The National Council for Clinical Establishments (NCCE) has put forward recommendations to modify the Clinical Establishments (CE) Act, 2010, intended to permit physiotherapists to own and manage clinics.
During their October meeting this year, the Council proposed revisions to Section 2(c)(e) of the Act. Currently, this section allows only individual doctors to oversee clinical establishments, but changes would include a provision allowing other professionals recognized under the National Commission for Allied Health Professionals Act, 2021, to do the same.
This proposed amendment, backed by the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP), suggests these professionals could maintain clinical establishments, ensuring they adhere to minimum standards outlined in the CE Act.
Previously, the Council had also supported this change, recognizing its importance for physiotherapists, who have long campaigned for this capability. Efforts by individuals and the Indian Association of Physiotherapists (IAP) to secure legal rights to clinic ownership began around seven to eight years ago with a case still pending in the Delhi High Court.
In a session held in May 2024, NCCE revisited the matter within the context of ongoing litigation in the court.
The Council clarified, “We agreed to include physiotherapists among those eligible to run clinics under the amended CE Act, 2010, particularly in Section 2(c)(e).”
Section 2(c) defines entities that can manage clinical establishments, such as government bodies, registered trusts, corporations, local authorities, and single doctors. The proposed amendment would extend these rights to physiotherapists as well.
In early January 2023, related petitions prompted the Court to ask whether physiotherapists could form a trust or society under Section 2(c) to establish a clinic.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare responded that two or more physiotherapists could establish a trust, and seven or more could form a society to own and operate a clinic.
However, the Union’s counsel explained that while physiotherapists could visit patients or work from personal spaces, they couldn’t establish clinics in their own names.
Judges, including Justice Manmohan and Justice Saurabh Banerjee, pointed out potential inconsistencies in the government’s reply, noting, “It seems contradictory that a larger group can form a society to manage clinics, while an individual provider cannot do so in their own name,” urging further review.
Following this, the Ministry indicated that the March 16, 2023 meeting discussed the necessity of amending the CE Act.
An order on July 11, 2023, highlighted the need to expedite legislative changes.
A sub-committee, headed by Dr. Jitendra Prasad from the Directorate General of Health Services, was appointed to resolve the incorporation of physiotherapists within the amended Clinical Establishments Act, as reported by the Union of India on October 17, 2023.