Consumer protection act 2019—-Doctors In Dilemma

CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT,2019

“DOCTORS IN DILEMMA “

WHY?

Because doctors are confused on the question——-

“Is healthcare services are in the ambit of consumer protection act ,2019?”

Before analysing this question ,we all should know the history of CPA.

1. CPA,1986 was enacted on 24th December,1986 and enforced on 15th April,1987.

2.Many amendments were done in CPA in years 1991,1993,2002 etc.

3.Now the CPA 1986 is repealed and replaced by new CPA act-2019

4. CPA 2019, was notified in Gazette on 9 August 2019

5. CPA-Rules—2020 are notified in Gazette on 15 July 2020.

6. CPA rules were declared to be implemented from 20 July 2020

Now,Coming to the question

Is healthcare services are in the ambit of CPA 2019 ?

There are two schools of thoughts .

First says “YES “

The healthcare services fall in the consumer protection act 2019.and this New act is more stringent than the old one.

REASONS TO SUPPORT THIS THOUGHT :

1.”Healthcare “word is not there in CPA,1986

2. But healthcare came in the ambit of consumer protection act after the judgement of Hon ‘ble Supreme Court by three judges bench on the case “IMA versus V P Shantha 1995”

In which the “service“ is interpreted in such a way that Medical profession was brought within the ambit of consumer protection act 1986 .The medical services provided with consideration is included in it. The court said even though services rendered by medical practitioners are of personal nature ,they cannot be treated as contract of personal service (which are excluded from the consumer protection act They are contract for service under which a doctor too can be sued in consumer protection courts.

And henceforth ,the patient became the consumer and the doctor treated as a service provider and Doctors are sued in the consumer courts .

THUS, IN SAME WAY ,

the “healthcare “ word is also not in this new act but there is no change in the clause of service and many other clause are also added in this new act which indirectly include medical profession in the CPA 2019 and judiciary may interpret this act in the same way as interpreted in 1995 IMA versus V P Shantha case and there is no relief till the decision of IMA versus V P Shantha is overruled by Supreme Court larger bench ,till then the doctors may be governed by this new act which is more stringent than the old CPA.

Now ,the second school of thought .Which says ,

NO

The “healthcare “is not included in CPA,2019.

The reason behind this thought is:

1) Constitution of India is supreme law of our country There are separation of powers as per our Constitution where

LEGISLATORS enact the acts

EXECUTIVE implement the rules and

JUDICIARY interpret these acts

The powers are separated in these three pillars .

Consumer protection act 2019 is an act of Parliament of India .It repeals and replaces the consumer protection act 1986.

As this is the new act and not amendments,so it should be interpreted in a fresh way by the judiciary by examining the intention of parliament behind enacting this new act.

2)The consumer protection Bill 2019 was introduced in the LokSabha on 8 th July 2019 by the Minster of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution ,Mr Ram Vilas Paswan .It was passed by Lok Sabha on 30th July 2019 with high controversy on the issue of inclusion of healthcare . The word” healthcare” was there in section 2(42) of the CPA bill 2018 which was passed in LOK SABHA after the word “ telecom”.

After that ,the bill which was passed in Rajya Sabha on 6th August 2019, do not contain the word healthcare in section 2(42).

The reason stated by Minister Mr .Ram Vilas Paswan about removing healthcare is that many members of parliament do not want healthcare in this Bill. Reason behind this is that if the doctors are included in CPA then they become more defensive due to fear of CPA and he quoted the example of Headache and cough.

If patient goes to doctor for simple complaint and due to fear of CPA, doctor may advice many investigations before prescribing a simple painkiller and the treatment gets delayed and costly also, so the healthcare is struck off from the new Bill.

And the bill received assent from President Ram Nath Kovind on 9 th August 2019 and notified in Gazette of India on the same date.

This Proves that the intention of parliament is to keep healthcare professionals out of the ambit of CPA.

3) Many leading consumer rights bodies who are dealing with interests of consumer are worried after removal of word healthcare from the Bill and they are opposing it ,this also support that healthcare is out of CPA 2019.

To conclude this Analysis

I wish to say,”UNITY OF DOCTORS “is today’s need to stay out of CPA as FATE OF DOCTORS is in the hands of “MY LORD” , how they interpret this new act as LEGISLATORS showed their clear intention and now it is the work of judiciary to interpret it constitutionally.

My Lord , “SAVE THE DOCTORS”.

Dr. Manju Rathi

MBBS MD (Gold medallist)

LLB LLM (Gold medallist)