The 21-member committee has been asked to give recommendations by the end of the ongoing monsoon session of the legislature

Mumbai: The state Legislative Assembly unanimously referred the Maharashtra Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Bill, 2026, to a joint select committee of both Houses of the state legislature. The 21-member committee has been asked to give its recommendations on the bill before the end of the winter session of the state legislature.Last week, in an overhaul of healthcare regulation, public health minister Prakash Abitkar had introduced a bill to replace the Maharashtra Nursing Homes Registration Act, 1949, expanding the law’s ambit from nursing homes and maternity homes to hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres, pathology laboratories and day-care centres. However, while the bill promises greater transparency and accountability, it exempts govt-run hospitals from its ambit.The demand to send the bill to a joint select committee was moved by MLAs Aslam Shaikh, Vijay Wadettiwar, Amin Patel, Nana Patole, Vikas Thackeray, Jyoti Gaikwad, Dr Vishwajit Kadam, Sajid Pathan, Hemant Ogle, Ramdas Masram, Amit Zhanak and Dr Nitin Raut.Abitkar said the bill aims to create a unified regulatory framework for private healthcare by making registration mandatory, prescribing minimum standards of infrastructure and staffing, mandating the display of treatment charges, and introducing a charter of patients’ rights. As per the bill, clinical establishments must provide emergency stabilisation and basic life support irrespective of a patient’s ability to pay, issue itemised bills, publish tariffs on their websites, and undergo periodic inspections.It also proposes a digital state register of healthcare facilities and penalties of up to Rs 5 lakh for operating without registration or violating provisions.According to the bill’s Statement of Objects and Reasons, the 1949 law is no longer adequate as it regulates only nursing and maternity homes, leaving the rapidly expanding healthcare sector — including clinics, laboratories and diagnostic centres — outside its purview.