Bhubaneswar, March 31 (IANS) The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has rapped the Odisha government for failing to regulate private clinical establishments (CEs) and allowing them to violate various norms, a report said on Tuesday.
The CAG report on ‘General and social sector for the year ended March 2014’ tabled in the assembly on Tuesday said the government has failed to provide minimum standards for infrastructure, services and quality for health institutions.
It found that out of 34 CEs, while 27 were operating with valid licences, seven CEs were operating despite expiry of their licences between September 2008 and August 2013.
“Out of 1,511 CEs registered in the state with the Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET), registration/licence of 976 CEs expired between May 1996 and November 2013 and the same were not renewed as of August 2014,” said the report.
In four districts, registration of 377 (54 percent), out of 700 private CEs, expired between September 1996 and November 2013, it said.
Out of 34 test checked functional private CEs, registration of nine CEs expired 15 to 83 months ago.
It observed that no inspection was carried out by the DMET for detection of health institutions operating without valid licence and registration.
The CAG said that though accreditation is a parameter to assess the quality of service rendered by CEs, DMET had no information on accreditation status of CEs of the state.
While the government had allotted 125.262 acre of land during 1981-2009 to 39 promoters at concessional rates for setting up of nursing homes/ private hospitals, several promoters utilised the allotted land for residential and commercial purposes, it said.
The Bhubaneswar Development Authority has approved their building plan for nursing home and maternity home.
“The government had not taken any steps for cancellation of these allotments despite the terms of allotment of approved building plan being violated. The objective of allotment was, thus, defeated,” said the report.