New laws to define private hospital charges

New laws would be introduced under the Private Medical Institutions Act regarding the fees charged by private medical institutions. Following many complaints from patients regarding the unreasonable charges made by some private medical institutions the Health Ministry had taken this decision to introduce a new regulations to make charges more transparent as far as the public is concerned.

Private Health Services Regulatory Council secretary Dr. Amal Harsha de Silva said a gazette was prepared by the Health Ministry and it would require the consent of the Private Health Services Regulatory Council.“This gazette would include regulations relating to fees charged by private medical institutions. We believe that there should be transparency in medical charges. The objectives of the Private Medical Institutions Act is to ensure that private health services provide effective, efficient, quality health care services,” he said.

Under the new regulations, private healthcare providers have to be specific in their charges and state clearly the service for which the fee had been charged.“Some charges can be predicted but some cannot. Sometimes it is even difficult to predict the number of days a patient should stay in a hospital. Many hospitals are taking advantage of this and do not display the specific charges at all, but room charges and charges for X-rays could be clearly stated,” he said.

The legislation is still in draft form but as soon as the approval of the Private Health Services Regulatory Council is received it could come into effect as law.