Report No. 201

Chapter V

Recommendations for Mandatory Emergency Medical Care by Hospitals and Medical Practitioners

In the light of the discussion in Chapters I and II, and the principles applied for mandatory emergency medical care in hospitals in USA in particular, as described in chapter III, we propose to give our recommendations, keeping in view the observations of the Supreme Court in Parmanand Katara v. Union of India AIR 1989 SC 2039, Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samiti v. State of West Bengal: 1996(4) SCC 37 and Indian Medical Association v. V.S. Shanta 1995(6) SCC 651 and decision of the National Consumer Redressal Commission in Pravat Kumar Mukherjee v. Ruby General Hospital (25.4.2005).

We are drafting a Model Law for the States in view of the observation of the Supreme Court. It may be noted that 'hospitals' fall under Entry 6 of State List in Schedule VII of the Constitution of India. The reference to medical practitioners in this Bill is purely incidental.