Section 28 in West Bengal Clinical Establishment (Registration, Regulation and Transparency), Rules, 2017
28. Grievance redressal System.
(1)The clinical establishments having two or more service providers shall establish an internal grievance redressal system so that anyone aggrieved by the denial of assured service to be known as 'aggrieved party' can have an opportunity to get a prompt redressal before taking other course(s) of action.Explanation. - "Aggrieved party" means any person who has submitted a complaint under sub-rule (4) and includes:(a)Any service recipient including Patient or Patient Party whose individual rights are alleged to be violated; or (b) Any person(s), as a potential service recipient whose collective community rights are alleged to be violated; or (c) any organization acting in public interest.(2)The "Denial of assured services" mentioned under sub-rule (1) means and includes-(a)non-provision of any of the assured services including non-provision of emergency treatment; or(b)provision of defective or sub-standard quality of assured services; or(c)any unethical or unfair trade practice, including but not restricted to recovery of money in excess of standard charges; or(d)violation of patient rights specified in the Act and rules; or(e)any such other deficiency, delay, defects, neglect or abuse as may be notified.(3)As a part of the internal grievance redressal system, the clinical establishment shall generate and maintain a grievance redressal register containing such particulars in such a manner as may be notified as a part of mandatory record keeping and shall designate a specific member of the staff preferably having experience in public relations to be designated as Grievance redressal Officer as the person in charge of such internal Grievance redressal mechanism.(4)The Grievance redressal Officer under sub-rule (3), upon receiving a complaint, oral or written, from the aggrieved party for redressal of grievance, shall -(a)register the complaint without any delay in the public grievance redressal cell or help desk;(b)provide the aggrieved party an acknowledgement bearing an acknowledgement number which may be used as reference by the aggrieved party in future;(c)provide the aggrieved party, within a reasonable period not exceeding 7 (seven) working days, with a written preliminary response for his/her application, along with the action taken/proposed to be taken;(d)contact the person concerned and remedy the situation;(e)provide the aggrieved party with printed information in English and local language on all the remedies available to him;(f)record all the particulars regarding any remedial action taken in the grievance redressal register; and(g)perform any other activities as may be notified.(5)As a part of the internal grievance redressal system, the clinical establishment shall display the procedure of laying complaints, full contact details of the Grievance Redressal Officer with clear mention of the time of availability of the same and any other detail information as a part of mandatory display under rule 22 and shall communicate the procedure to the service recipient on a regular basis.(6)The clinical establishment shall submit such annual report containing such relevant extracts from the grievance redressal register, as may be notified, to the respective Licensing Authority as a part of mandatory reporting.
