kochi the kerala clinical establishments registration and regulation bill 2017 that was introduced in the assembly on august 10 will not be passed in the current session the bill was referred to the subject committee which has decided to go for discussions before considering it in the next assembly sessionthe present assembly session ends on august 24 sources said after the bill was referred to the subject committee it decided to seek suggestions from the general public till august 30 all suggestions can be sent to the joint secretary subject committee of the legislative secretariat the suggestions would then be sent to the government which will make necessary recommendations and send it back to the subject committeesources said the subject committee also plans to hold a public hearing by september 28 in various parts of the state all the suggestions will be compiled and presented in the next assembly to be passed as an act sources said concerns were raised against the manner in which the government has been trying to pass the bill in the assembly additional chief secretary health family welfare rajeev sadanandan confirmed the developments and said the views of all stakeholders will be heard by the subject committeemeanwhile the indian medical association kerala chapter suggested that the proposals in the bill should not have an adverse impact on small and medium hospitals the ima in a letter to the health minister said in the present bill clinics offering consultation in recognised medical streams have been exempted from ensuring minimum standards prescribed in the bill it should also be made applicable to clinics run by doctor couples and hospitals below 50beds further these hospitals should be given permanent registration instead of provisional registrationalso a demand has been raised that the validity of permanent accreditation should be for five years and not three years as mentioned in the bill and that there should be clarity about cancellation of registration of hospitals the government should encourage startuphospitals of doctors in villages by ensuring simplified singlewindow licensing system especially for those who want to do something in rural areas also subsidy should be provided to those who run small and medium hospitals said ima kerala president dr vg pradeep kumar