New Delhi, May 14 (IANS): The bill for regulating clinical establishments to ensure safer health practices will be passed by parliament in the coming monsoon session, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said.

"The bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. It will be passed in the Rajya Sabha in the monsoon session," Azad said Thursday at the inauguration of a three-day workshop of the national initiative for patient safety (NIPS) organised by All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The bill will ensure safer health practices by regulating clinics and nursing homes across the country, he added.

Stating that patients' safety is the casualty in over-burdened public health institutions, the minister said the passing of the bill will be a step in rectifying the situation.

"Through this bill we are aspiring to create a regulatory framework for all clinical establishments that would be entirely patient centric," he added.

Speaking about other initiatives in the direction, he said a national policy for infection control and patient safety was being formulated by the health ministry to promote safe practices in the health sector.

"An expert level group has prepared a draft concept paper on National Infection Control and Patient Safety Policy. This is now being examined by the ministry for possible implementations on different levels of health care in the country," Azad said.

Stressing on the need for comprehensive data on causes of medical errors, the minister called upon the hospitals to involve in analysis of errors.

"In India, the health sector is largely unregulated. Therefore, the data about patient's safety is sketchy," he observed.

"We need to encourage both hospital-based and community-based studies for better accuracy in getting data in medical errors," he added.