 bill no  282  of  2015 the medical consultancy and other services (rationalisation of fees)  bill, 2015 bydr manoj rajoria, mp a billto rationalise the consultancy and other medical services fees for making them affordable for the common man in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the medical consultancy and other services(rationalisation of fees) act, 2015short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india (3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification 2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—definitions(a) "committee" means the medical consultancy and other services rationalisation of fees committee constituted under section 3;(b) "diagnostic laboratory" means a place owned or run by an industrial or agroup of persons or by a private or corporate hospital where pathological tests or investigations are conducted on the advice of a bonafide medical practitioner or consultant;(c) "medical consultancy and other services" includes,—(i) consultancy by qualified medical practitioners in all branches of medicines/surgery including alternative branches, namely, allopathy, homoeopathy, ayurveda, unani and siddha, whether in private clinics or in the private or corporate hospitals;5(ii) all such pathological tests as are prescribed by the qualified doctors whether in a private clinic or in a private and/or corporate hospital; and(iii) all such scanning or imaging services, namely, x-ray, ultra sound, mri, or  ct scan,  whether in a private clinic or in a private/corporate hospital10(d) "medical practitioner" means a person legally qualified and duly registered by the medical council of india and engaged in the business of consultancy and providing advice to patients whether as a private practitioner or in a private corporate/ hospital; and(e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act153 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a committee to be known as the medical consultancy and other services rationalisation of fees committee to determine the fees of a medical practitioner and prices of pathological tests, scanning and imaging(2)the committee shall consist of—20constitution of the medical consultancy and other services rationalisation of fees committee| (                                      | i   | ) the minister of health and family welfare,   | -   | chairman, ex-officio   ||----------------------------------------|-----|------------------------------------------------|-----|------------------------|| government of india                    |     |                                                |     |                        || (                                      | ii  | ) chairman of the department-related           | -   | member                 || parliamentary standing committee on    |     |                                                |     |                        || health and family welfare              |     |                                                |     |                        || 25                                     |     |                                                |     |                        || (                                      | iii | ) three representatives of major               | -   | member                 || hospitals/laboratory including         |     |                                                |     |                        || government run hospitals/laboratory    |     |                                                |     |                        || 30                                     |     |                                                |     |                        || (                                      | iv  | ) three representatives of the                 | -   | member                 || non-governmental organisation          |     |                                                |     |                        || in the health sector;                  |     |                                                |     |                        || (                                      | v   | ) two representatives of medical practitioners | -   | member                 || (                                      | vi  | ) one representative each from the national    | -   | member; and            || political parties                      |     |                                                |     |                        || 35                                     |     |                                                |     |                        || (                                      | vii | ) secretary to the government of india         | -   | secretary, ex-officio  || ministry of health and family welfare |     |                                                |     |                        |(3) members under clauses (iii), (iv) and (v) shall be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed(4) members under clause (vi) shall be appointed by the central government on the recommendation of the respective political party404 the central government shall provide the committee such assistance as may be necessary for the efficient functioning of the committeecentral government to provide assistance to the committee| 5                                                                                         |  the committee shall -   ||-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------|| functions of                                                                              |                           || the                                                                                       |                           || committee                                                                                |                           || (                                                                                         | i                         || from patients either in their private clinics or in a private hospital/corporate hospital |                           || after taking into consideration such factors as may be necessary;                         |                           |5| (                                                           | ii   | ) determine  the rate for the pathological tests and scanning taking into the   ||-------------------------------------------------------------|------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| consideration the inputs used in carrying out the tests;    |      |                                                                                 || (                                                           | iii  | ) encourage  private practitioners to organize free medical camps on a regular  || basis to provide  free consultancy for the local community |      |                                                                                 |10| 6                                                                                    |    ( | 1                                                                                    ||--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| fixed by the committee;                                                              |       |                                                                                      || mandatory                                                                            |       |                                                                                      || display of                                                                           |       |                                                                                      || consultancy                                                                          |       |                                                                                      || and other                                                                            |       |                                                                                      || fees                                                                                |       |                                                                                      || (                                                                                    |     2 | ) it shall be mandatory for every  medical practitioner and diagnostic laboratory to || display the fees as determined by the committee in such manner as may be prescribed |       |                                                                                      || penalty                                                                             |       |                                                                                      |15| 7                                                                                             ||-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| imprisonment for a term not less than one year and with fine which may extend up to five lakh || rupees                                                                                       |(2) where an offence under this act has been committed by a company/hospital/laboratory, the license of such company/hospital/laboratory shall be cancelled forthwithexplanation—for the purpose of sub-section (2), "company", means any body corporate, and includes a firm or other association of individuals20power to make rules8 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act25(2) every rule made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsthe medical practitioners are charging exorbitant consultancy fees from patients ranging from  rupees five hundred to two thousand  per visit the pathological tests and scanning, etc in the private hospitals are exceedingly expensive and becoming out of reach for the common people the government is committed to provide health services free of cost to its citizens regardless of their economic status however, considering the size of our population and the unmatched health  facilities, it is imperative that the private practitioners either in their private clinics or in the private/corporate hospitals should provide the medical consultancy at a reasonable price which can be afforded by a common man, particularly when the majority of private hospitals are running on the leased government land and the private clinics do not pay commercial charges for their premises from where they run their clinics the consultancy fee of private medical practitioners is arbitrarily high as a result, the government hospitals are overcrowded with patients in this background, it is felt that the consultancy by the private medical practitioners and other medical services all over the country needs to be rationalizedit is therefore, proposed to constitute a committee to fix the consultancy fees and pathological and other test charges, promote the free medical campus and rationalizes the fees for medical services for the poorthe bill seeks to achieve the above objectives new delhi;november 18, 2015manoj  rajoria financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for constitution of a committee to be known as the medical consultancy and other services rationalisation of  fees committee to rationalize the medical services fees clause 4 provides that the central government shall provide assistance to the committee for its efficient functioning the bill, therefore,  if enacted, would involve expenditure for the consolidated fund of india it is likely to involve a recurring expenditure of about rupees fifty crore per annumno non-recurring expenditure of  is likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 8 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto rationalise the consultancy and other medical services fees for making them affordable for the common man in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(dr manoj rajoria, mp)gmgipmrnd—2860ls(s3)—03122015