medicalmajoracts.com is a digital repository of the important central statutes (bare Acts) which are directly applicable to the healthcare delivery services in India. It is continuously updated with the current laws and amendments. This ready reckoner is relevant and useful to doctors and other allied healthcare professionals including hospital administrators, managerial and legal teams of hospitals, institutions, and healthcare facilities Read more...

The Need

The development of any nation has generally been associated with two phenomena – growth in the legal and regulatory framework and increasing focus on healthcare. As India transforms to a developed economy, the role of law in healthcare is increasing by the day and is bound to further increase in future.

Today, the legal framework in healthcare is expanding to regulate newer areas. Healthcare providers now are compelled to refer to the statutory provisions even for routine day-to-day activities. The need to remain aware, updated and compliant with the increasing number of laws relating to healthcare is therefore more pressing amongst the professionals working in and/or associated with this domain. Unfortunately, there is no single source where statutory laws can be easily accessed.

medicalmajoracts.com intends to address this need.

What is a Statute?

Doctors and hospital administrators are not legal professionals. A few elementary terms and some basic information on how to understand and interpret the statutes are therefore discussed hereinbelow in an easy-to-understand way:

  • Statutory law means the written law. It is the most important source of law. Judgments delivered by the higher courts (case laws), customs, practices, etc. are the other source of laws
  • Statutory laws include Acts, Rules, Regulations, Guidelines, etc. These are made by statutory bodies having the requisite authority to make law
  • ‘Acts’ are made by the legislatures. In India, the Parliament, as well as the State legislatures (Vidhan Sabha / Vidhan Parishad), are empowered to make Acts
  • An Act may have a number of Rules / Regulations / Guidelines under them. These are made and notified by the statutory authorities (including legislature) empowered to do so under the parent ‘Act.’ Even the issues on which Rules / Regulations / Guidelines can be made are specified in the parent ‘Act.’
  • Acts / Rules / Regulations:
    • Usually have a section wherein the event or the date on which that statute will come into force is clearly stated
    • May have several Chapters, Parts, Schedules as well as Forms and these could be further divided into sections, sub-sections, sub-sub-sections, and so on.
    • Can be amended or repealed by another amending / repealing statute. The day on which the original statute or a particular provision of a statute will cease, or a particular amendment will come into force is clearly stated in the amending / repealing statute.