Law passed to regulate pricing and other policies at private hospitals

The Karnataka Assembly passed a slightly diluted version of a law to regulate pricing and other policies at private hospitals and medical establishments. The final bill, the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) (KPME) Bill, removes imprisonment as a possible sanction for violators of the act and includes representatives of the private sector on district-level grievance committees. It allows the government to set fees for procedures performed under government health insurance and prohibits hospitals from holding corpses hostage when fees have not been paid.