New Delhi: The Supreme Court bench led by the Chief Justice of India, S A Bobde, issued notice over a PIL which sought regulation of prices for the treatment of coronavirus patients in private hospitals.
The PIL also focused on treating the patients on a non-profit basis and stopping the commercialisation or black marketing of healthcare services.
The petitioner Sachin Jain contended that the government has given private hospitals unfettered powers to charge and there is no qualification as to how much these hospitals can charge.
"COVID-19 treatment doesn't involve any surgical treatment and so the hospital is just providing a bed. There should be regulation for all the money that patients are being charged for I have come across cases where one patient is being charged between 10 to 12 lakhs," Jain said.
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CJI Bobde agreeing with the petitioner's argument said that they can not interfere in matters of private hospitals without hearing their side of the story. However, the court said, they would be issuing notice in the matter.
