Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and Tribal Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today chaired a meeting of State Consumer Protection Council to discuss the measures that need to be initiated for Protection of consumer interests with regard to education and health sector.During the meeting, threadbare discussion was held on various consumer concerns related to health, education and other sectors including selling of books by private schools, consumer grievances redressal mechanism in case of online shopping, services provided to consumers by both government and private hospitals, classification of nursing homes and educational institutions, variation in charges of nursing homes, rates fixed and facilities provides by these nursing homes, variation in charges of clinical labs,variation in test results of various clinical labs, non-issuance of bills by some of nursing homes, sanitation issues in the hospitals and nursing homes, variation in rates of medicines of same nature at different medical stores, rationalization of teaching, paramedical staff and doctors, prosecution of cases filed by government on behalf of public business establishments, uniformity in the parking rates at outside the hospitals, business establishments, educational institutions and court premises.The Minister, while calling for further strengthening of the Consumer Forums in the state, said that government is committed to secure the rights of the consumer besides providing them with a strong, accessible grievances redressal mechanism.
Taking note of issues pertaining to the heath sector, the Minister directed health department not to confine themselves towards services rendered by the government sector, but also focus on health care services being provided by the private sector to ensure that consumers are not exploited.He asked the health department to review feasibility of moving the ICU in GMC Jammu to the ground floor for the convenience of the people.With regard to education, the Minister directed education department to conduct a detailed survey of private schools and categorize their fee structure as per the infrastructure being provided to the students. He asked the members of the council to build confidence among consumers to send their wards to government institutions.He directed Education dept to constitute an enforcement committee in coordination with LMD and FSC&CA dept to monitor the functioning of private institutions.Further, the Minister emphasized the need for checking adulteration of various items like milk, drugs etc. He directed the officers to constitute District Consumer Forum for district Kishtwar to safeguard the interests of the Consumers.Members present in the meeting also gave their valuable suggestions for improving functioning of healthcare and education sectors in the state.The Minister appreciated the members for airing their views regarding streamlining of working of the department and ensuring protection of the rights of the consumers.Among others Principal Secretary Health and Medical Education Department Dr Pawan Kotwal, Commissioner Secretary School Education department Farooq Ahmad Shah, Commissioner Secretary Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department M D Khan, Senior Additional Advocate General Seema Khajooria Shekhar, Members of State Consumer Protection Council, Directors of FCS&CA Department Jammu and Kashmir Division, Director Family welfare, Director School Education, Controller Legal Metrology, President Chamber of Trade Federation, President Akhar Bhartia Ghrak Panchayat President Consumer Forum Protection Organization, President Retailers Association, President Jamia Masjid Traders Association, President KCC&I and other senior officers of concerned departments and representatives of various other organizations and establishments attended the meeting.