In a big relief to patients here, the district administration today issued a prohibitory order under which an ailing person cannot be forced to buy medicines or other equipment from a particular shop and cannot be compelled to undergo medical tests at some specific centre.
District Magistrate Akash Tripathi has issued the prohibitory order to this effect under section 144 of CrPC, an official release said.
Any one violating the order will be penalised under section 188 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), it said.
The order said it has come to notice that private hospitals, nursing homes and doctors were forcing people to buy medicines and other equipment from a particular medical store. In case, they defy, they are denied medical treatment. Similarly, a patient was compelled to avail services of a specific pathological centre for various medical tests.
The order said that in such a condition, people had no option but to buy medicines, equipment and undergo tests at double or triple the prices from particular shops and centres.
This causes immense mental and financial harassment to patients and their relatives. At times, this is the main cause of violence, arguments and fights between the patient's relatives and hospital management, it further said.
The district administration has also asked private hospitals, doctors and nursing homes to put up notices at their establishments in English and Hindi that patients and their relatives would not be forced to buy medicine from a particular shop and undergo test at a specified pathology.
