[COVID] "State has taken cue from our suggestions:" Kerala High Court permits operation of new Govt Order capping room rent in private hospitals

The Kerala High Court on Thursday passed an order, allowing the operation of a Government Order (GO) dated July 7 capping the price that can be charged as room rent by private hospitals in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, for a period of six weeks (Kerala Private Hospitals Association v. Adv. Sabu P Joseph & Ors). .A Division Bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and Kauser Edappagath said that the new GO must be allowed to operate for a few weeks to see how it impacts the COVID-19 treatment scenario in the state. "The govt has now come forward with another order whereby the rates of rooms in private hospitals have been delineated and specified. The rates now fixed by the Government, according to them, follows certain norms that are universally accepted and therefore we are of the view that it is not within our jurisdictional domain to sit in judgement over it particularly because it appears to have come out of deliberations and parlays with all the stakeholders," the Court said in its order. .The current GO was issued after the Kerala High Court had stayed a previous GO dated June 16, wherein the State Government supplemented the tariff that had been fixed for private hospitals by allowing the hospitals to decide the rates 'for other categories of beds like private rooms and suites'..Kerala High Court stays Government Order allowing Private Hospitals to fix room rent for COVID-19 treatment [Read Order].The Court had rebuked the State and stayed that GO declaring that it "effectively allowed private hospitals to revert to the earlier practice of fixing any rent they wished to impose for treating patients".Government Pleader S Kannan, appearing for the State, submitted that according to the new order, private hospitals can charge room rent to COVID patients at their discretion subject to a cap fixed by the State. This, he submitted, would be sufficient for dealing with the issue for the time being. .As per the new GO, private hospital rooms have been classified into several categories based on the accreditation status by Nation Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare and the total number of beds available at the hospitals. They have also made five broader categories and capped the rent chargeable for each category of room. This methodology was proposed by the State Health Agency and the State Medical Board..The review petition was filed as the petitioner still raised certain legal reservations about the new GO. However, Senior Counsel Shyam Divan, instructed by advocate K Anand for the private hospitals, submitted that they are willing to operate under the guidelines of this GO for some time at least as a way- forward in the spirit of co-operation with all stakeholders. He suggested that the GO be allowed to be operate for a period of six weeks so that grievances of the stakeholders and the public can be ascertained and addressed properly afterwards. .The Court agreed with the parties and set aside the previous GO dated June 16 and decided to hear the review petition again on August 26, 2021..[Read Government Order]