PANJIM: The State government has made authorisation under bio-medical waste (management) rules mandatory for all the clinical establishments including single doctor clinics to get their units registered under the Goa Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2019.
The State government has amended the Act in order to make authorisation from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) under bio-medical waste (management) rules mandatory.
As per the Act, notified in September 2019 and adopted by the Cabinet in June 2021, the establishments failing to get registered will have to face summary closure of the facility with a fine of Rs 50,000 for first contravention, Rs 2 lakh for second contravention and Rs 5 lakh for subsequent contraventions.
The Act, that repeals the Goa Medical Practitioners’ Act 2004, grants powers to the government to monitor the functioning of all private clinical establishments.
Further, the government has now also directed all the medical units, to get certification from the State medical council, to get their clinics registered.
The Goa Council for Clinical Establishments (GCCE) had in December, last year, asked all clinical establishments which are already in existence at the time of commencement of the Act to apply for provisional registration on or before March 31, 2023.
The clinical establishments which came into existence after the commencement of this Act have to apply for their registration before starting their operations. Even establishments already registered under any existing law, have been asked to apply for registration under the Act.
