Health Care Services under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019: An Overview

Three decades old Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was repealed by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (herein after referred as to “Act”). Online trade practices, e-commerce, product liability and dispensing consumer justice in alternative dispute redressal mechanism etc. are the focus point for the enactment of the Act. The amending Act does not provide any specific provisions for healthcare services but the Act has a prolific bearing on the medical profession in India. A mindful recitation of the Act reveals that services of any description made available to potential users to hold the ‘healthcare services’ as well. The word ‘healthcare services’ were included in the definition of ‘services’ under the Consumer Protection Bill (Bill No. 1 of the 2018) but same was consequently absent in the Consumer Protection Bill (Bill No. 144 of the 2019) because of the demurby the medical fraternity. Sec. 2(42) of the Act, does not include the word ‘healthcare’ in the definition of services and hence it perceived that ‘healthcare services’ are not included under the preview of the Act. Even there was no specific provisions of the inclusion of the word ‘healthcare services’ or did not specifically mention that medical profession was covered by the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. It was the year of 1995 following the Supreme Court verdict in the V.P. Santha’s case that medical profession was brought under the ambit of Consumer Protection Act. In this Article researcher highlights the legal implication of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 on the medical profession or ‘healthcare services’ in India.