Why patient is not a consumer?
A consumer is a person who either purchases or agrees to purchase products or services by payment of price. In that sense, when a patient is taking medical services either from a doctor or a hospital in exchange of price, the patient is also a consumer as he/she is enjoying a service from a service provider. Our Consumer Rights Protection Act, 2009 remain silent on this issue. Nevertheless, if we interpret the term of service we can surely say patient is also a consumer.
The Bangladesh Consumer Rights Act has emphasised on the buying and selling of products and consuming issues. But we also can find out that it mentioned about the services in its definition clauses as well even though it has not been further substantiated.
In India, the Consumer Rights Protection Act 1986 recognised patients as a consumers and has been given the power to file cases in the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC).
Here we can give a groundbreaking judgment of Indian NCDRC in the Anuradha Saha Case. In that case Anuradha was contracted with Toxi Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) which is termed as a rare and deadly disease by the NCDRC itself. A TEN patient loses the epidermis in layer and the exposed lower skin must be treated like a superficial burn wound. Anuradha showed symptoms of rashes over her body and received treatment as an outdoor patient in a Kolkata’s hospital. Subsequently she was admitted to the Advanced Medicare and Research Institute in Kolkata. As her condition didn’t improve she was then shifted to a hospital in Mumbai. But she died on the subsequent day. Her husband Dr. Kunal Saha filed a case in the NCDRC and court found that Anuradha was died by overdose of steroid that had been administered at the hospital in Kolkata. In 2011, NCDRC ordered that a compensation amount of approximately 1. 1 crore rupees to the victim’s family on the ground of Medical Negligence.
On the other hand, in our country filing a case on the ground of Medical Negligence is very rare. If any victim wants to file a case they have to go through the procedure under the Penal code that leads to a complex litigation process. But this is the area where victim demands prompt remedy. Unfortunately it is rare in our country that a doctor or hospital is held to be liable on the ground of medical negligence and awarding any amount of compensation to the victim.
The only effective way to this problem is to give the status of consumer to the patient in the Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009. It is the time that there should be proper amendment of this Act.
Writer is a student of Law, BUBT.