Lok Sabha Question No. 250 (STARRED), answered on 2016-12-02
Subject: Patient Welfare Committees
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: KAMLA DEVI PATLE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 250 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 2 ND DECEMBER , 2016 PATIENT WELFARE COMM ITTEES

## †*250. SHRIMATI KAMLA DEVI PAATLE:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  aims  and  objectives  of  the  Patient  Welfare  Committee  (PWC)  set  u various hospitals in the country;
- (b) whether public representative have any representation in the PWC and if details thereof;
- (c) whether PWC are functioning in the country including Chhattisgarh and if details thereof, State - wise and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d) whether efforts have been made to improve the health services in rural a if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA)

- (a) to ( d):  A statement is laid on the Table of the House

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 250* FOR 2 ND DECEMBER , 2016

(a) Under  the  National  Health  Mission  (NHM), Rogi  Kalyan  Samitis /Patient Welfare Committees are envisaged to act as a forum to improve the functioning and serviceprovision  in  public  health  facilities, increase  participation  and  enhance accountability for provision o f better facilities to the patients in the public health facilities at the level of Primary Health Centres and above .The objectives of the RKS/PWC isat Annexure - I.

(b) As per the Guidelines issued by the Central Government under the Natio Health Mission, t he Chairperson of the Governing body of RKS at district hospital level  is  envisaged  to  the  i n- charge  Minister/  local  MP/President  Zila  Panchayat/ District  Magistrate .  The  members  include Local  MLA,  in  whose  jurisdiction  the health  facility  is  located, Chairperson - Zilla  Panchayat , Mayor/Chairperson  of  the Urban Local Body at the District Hospital headquarters .Similarly ,the Chairperson of the RKS at S ub District Hospital/Community Health Centre is envisaged to be Member  of  Legislative  Assembly / Sub  District  Magistrate/Block  Development Officer  Panchayat  Samiti. The  RKS  of  P rimary  Health  Centre include  the chairperson/member of Janpad Health Sub - Com mittee .

(c) The State/ UT wise information includin g Chhatisgarh of registered RKS s as on March, 2016 under NHM is at Annexure - II.

(d) The National  Rural  Health  Mission  (NRHM) was  launchedin  2005  to supplement  the  efforts  of  the  States  to provide  accessible,  affordable  and  quality healthcare,  especially  to  the  poor  and  vulnerable  sections  of  the  pop particularly in rural areas. Under the National Health Mission (NHM) which subsumes  the  NRHM  as  a  Sub  Mission,  support  is  provided to  States/UTs  to strengthen  their  healthcare  systems  including  for  untied  grants  to  Rogi Samitis, based on requirements posed by the States in their Progra Implementation Plans.

## Broad Objectives of Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS) are as be low:

1. Serve  as  a  consultative  body  to  enable  active  citizen  participation improvement of patient care and welfare in health facilities.
2. Ensure that essentially no user fees or charges are levied for treatment care in pregnancy, delivery, family  planning,  postpartum  period,  newborn  and care during infancy, or related to childhood malnutrition, national diseas programmes such as Tuberculosis, Malaria, HIV/AIDS, etc. and othe government  funded  programmes  which  are  provided  as  assur ance  or  service guarantees to those accessing public sector health facilities.
3. Decide  on  the  user  fee  structure  for  outpatient  and  inpatient  treatment should be displayed in a public place and be set at rates which are mini do not become fi nan cial barrier to accessing healthcare.
4. Ensure  that  those  patients  who  are  Below  Poverty  Line,  vulnerable marginalized  groups  and  other  groups  as  may  be  decided  by  the  st government, do not incur any financial  hardship  for  their  treatment,  and  create m echanisms  to  cover  part/full  costs  related  to  transport,  diet,  and attendant.
5. Develop mechanisms to guard against denial of care to any patient who does have  the  ability  to  pay,  especially  for  services  that  are  being  provid government' s expense.
6. Ensure provision of all non - clinical services and processes such as provisionin of safe drinking water, diet, litter free premises, clean toilets, clean desks, support for navigation, comfortable, patient waiting halls, securi ear signage systems, and prominent display of Citizens' Charter,
7. Ensure  availability  of  essential  drugs  and  diagnostics,  and  use  of  s treatment  protocols/standard  operating  procedures,  patient  safety,  ef mechanisms  for  maintaining  patient  re cords,  periodic  review  of  medical care/deaths,
8. The RKS, as a part of the endeavour to enable assured health services to seek services in the government health facility will allow the hospital in procure essential drugs/ diagnostics not av ailable in the health facility out of t RKS  funds.  Such  local  purchases  must  be  made  only  as  a  short  term  inte measure. The Executive Committee will review such purchases in each meeti and  ensure  that  the  rationale  for  the  purchase  is  justi fied  and  t hat  this  is  not undertaken repeatedly.
9. Promote  a  culture  of  user - friendly  behaviour  amongst  service  providers  and hospital  staff  for  improved  patient  welfare,  responsiveness  and  satis through  inter - alia  organizing  training/  orientation/  sensitisatio n  workshops periodically.
10. Operationalize a Grievance Redressal Mechanism including a prominent displ of the 'Charter of Patient Rights ' (Annexure I) in the Health facility and address complaints  promptly  thus  building  con fidence  of  people  in  the  public  h ealth facilities.
11. Create mechanisms for enabling feedback from patients, at least at the t discharge and take timely and appropriate action on such feedback.
12. Undertake special measures to reach the unreached / disadvantaged groups Campaigns to i ncrease awareness about services available in the facility.
13. Ensure overall facility maintenance to ensure that the facility conforms/a conform to the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS).
14. Supervise, maintain, and enable expansion of hospital buil ding for ef ficient and rational use and management of hospital land and buildings.
15. Facilitate  the  operationalization  of  National  and  State  Health  programm appropriate for the level of the facility.
16. Proactively  seek  out  participation  from  charitable  and religious  institutions, community organisations, corporates for cleanliness and upkeep of the facil
17. Facilitate participation and contribution from the community in cash/kind equipment/diet), labour including free professional services.

## Annexure - II

| Number of Rogi kalyan Samitis (RKS)/ Patient Welfare Committees (PWC) registered under NHM   | Number of Rogi kalyan Samitis (RKS)/ Patient Welfare Committees (PWC) registered under NHM   | Number of Rogi kalyan Samitis (RKS)/ Patient Welfare Committees (PWC) registered under NHM   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S.no.                                                                                        | State/UTs                                                                                    | As on March 20 16                                                                            |
| 1                                                                                            | Bihar                                                                                        | 1925                                                                                         |
| 2                                                                                            | Chhatisgarh                                                                                  | 960                                                                                          |
| 3                                                                                            | Himachal Pradesh                                                                             | 602                                                                                          |
| 4                                                                                            | Jammu & Kashmir                                                                              | 724                                                                                          |
| 5                                                                                            | Jharkhand                                                                                    | 578                                                                                          |
| 6                                                                                            | Madhya Pradesh                                                                               | 1607                                                                                         |
| 7                                                                                            | Orissa                                                                                       | 1741                                                                                         |
| 8                                                                                            | Rajasthan                                                                                    | 2911                                                                                         |
| 9                                                                                            | Uttar Pradesh                                                                                | 1071                                                                                         |
| 10                                                                                           | Uttarakhand                                                                                  | 330                                                                                          |
| 11                                                                                           | Arunachal Pradesh                                                                            | 185                                                                                          |
| 12                                                                                           | Assam                                                                                        | 1204                                                                                         |
| 13                                                                                           | Manipur                                                                                      | 110                                                                                          |
| 14                                                                                           | Meghalaya                                                                                    | 146                                                                                          |
| 15                                                                                           | Mizoram                                                                                      | 77                                                                                           |
| 16                                                                                           | Nagaland                                                                                     | 164                                                                                          |
| 17                                                                                           | Sikkim                                                                                       | 30                                                                                           |
| 18                                                                                           | Tripura                                                                                      | 131                                                                                          |
| 19                                                                                           | Andhra Pradesh                                                                               | 1306                                                                                         |
| 20                                                                                           | Goa                                                                                          | 14                                                                                           |
| 21                                                                                           | Gujarat                                                                                      | 1561                                                                                         |
| 22                                                                                           | Haryana                                                                                      | 517                                                                                          |
| 23                                                                                           | Karnataka                                                                                    | 2639                                                                                         |
| 24                                                                                           | Kerala                                                                                       | 1206                                                                                         |
| 25                                                                                           | Maharashtra                                                                                  | 3099                                                                                         |
| 26                                                                                           | Punjab                                                                                       | 551                                                                                          |
| 27                                                                                           | Tamil Nadu                                                                                   | 2030                                                                                         |
| 28                                                                                           | Telangana                                                                                    | 831                                                                                          |
| 29                                                                                           | West Bengal                                                                                  | 729                                                                                          |
| 30                                                                                           | A&N Island                                                                                   | 29                                                                                           |
| 31                                                                                           | Chandigarh                                                                                   | 5                                                                                            |
| 32                                                                                           | D&N Haveli                                                                                   | 3                                                                                            |
| 33                                                                                           | Daman & Diu                                                                                  | 8                                                                                            |
| 34                                                                                           | Delhi                                                                                        | 35                                                                                           |
| 35                                                                                           | Lakshadweep                                                                                  | 9                                                                                            |
| 36                                                                                           | Puducherry                                                                                   | 48                                                                                           |
| All India                                                                                    | All India                                                                                    | 29116                                                                                        |

Source: MIS Report