Clinical Establishment Act soon: Anbumani

Chennai, Jan 7 (UNI) Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today said a 'Clinical Establishment Act' would be passed in Parliament soon to standardise diagnostic centres across the country.

Talking to newspersons here, he said ''we will give two years (from the time the law comes into force) to these centres to apply for mandatory registration.'' ''It's all about accreditation and medical quality factors crucial to medical tourism and good healthcare in general,'' he said.

The law would also standardise all medical facilities available in the government and private hospitals, he said.

He said ''currently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee is also planning to regulate the exorbitant cost for the services in private hospitals.'' Dr Ramadoss also said a Central Drug Control Authority would be constituted on the lines of the US FDA.

The proposed regulatory authority would have ten different sub-committees to look into drugs, cosmetics, blood safety, medical devices, biological products and recombinant products.

Dr Ramadoss said the authority would also try to get patent for the treatment modules of Ayurveda, Homoeopathy and Siddha in other countries.

Dr Ramadoss said drug regulation should be more stringent to ensure that quality and standards were met.

Pointing out that India was one of the largest pharmaceutical industry in the world, he said regulation was needed to keep pace with the growth of manufacturing.

India is the biggest manufacturer of FDA-approved pharmaceutical products outside the US, he said.

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