The newly constituted West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has begun hearing patient complaints and plans to introduce online hearings and an e-complaint system to make the grievance process more accessible.
The commission took up seven cases on Tuesday in the presence of all members of the new panel, chairman Justice (retd) Biswajit Basu said. The state government had dissolved the previous committee before constituting the new panel.
“We have started hearing cases with seven complaints in the presence of all members of the committee,” Basu said.
The commission is now working towards allowing complainants to participate in hearings online. It also plans to digitise its records, although the transition will take time, according to Basu.
“We have decided to move towards online hearing and also digitising records. This transition will take some time,” he said.
The proposed e-complaint system could change how patients submit and follow up on grievances against clinical establishments. The commission has not yet announced a launch date or provided details on the platform’s operating procedure, but the move indicates an effort to shift the complaints process towards a more digitally accessible system.
The panel has also begun reviewing the functioning of private health facilities. A WBCERC team recently visited private clinical establishments in North Bengal, where it advised facilities to address identified gaps. Sources said the commission plans to follow up to check whether the recommendations have been implemented.
Basu said shortcomings in patient-care services remained a concern at some facilities. “There are shortcomings in patient care services in some facilities. If we can address the core issues, the complaints against clinical establishments will automatically come down,” he said.
The commission’s approach combines complaint adjudication with inspections and follow-up. That means the panel is not limiting its role to hearing individual cases; it is also examining whether recurring weaknesses in private healthcare facilities can be addressed through regulatory intervention.
For patients, the online hearing proposal could reduce the need to travel for proceedings, particularly for complainants living outside Kolkata or in districts where access to the commission is more difficult. The effectiveness of the system will depend on the final process for filing complaints, uploading records, receiving notices and attending hearings remotely. These operational details have not yet been released.
The North Bengal inspections also point to a wider regulatory challenge: identifying gaps in clinical services is only the first step, while ensuring that facilities implement corrective measures requires continued monitoring. The commission’s planned follow-up will determine how the recommendations are translated into changes at the facility level.
The new panel has begun its work with seven complaints and is preparing the online hearing and digitisation process. Its next steps are to continue case hearings, develop the e-complaint system and follow up on recommendations issued to private health facilities.
