With rampant complaints of private hospitals fleecing patients in the name of COVID-19 treatment, both the Haryana and Punjab governments have decided to rationalise the treatment cost to bring it at par with that of government hospitals.
With the number of COVID-19 patients growing by the day and the price of beds soaring—especially for ICUs in private hospitals—government institutions have started feeling the burden, forcing both the administrations to act.
While Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu sought proposals from the private hospitals suggesting a "justified" cost of treatment, Haryana is on the verge of finalisation of rates following the Ahmedabad model of COVID-19 management.
It may be noted that top hospitals of the state, situated in the COVID-19 hotbed Gurgaon, had reportedly been charging anything between Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000 per day for an ICU bed with a ventilator and around Rs 25,000 for a normal ward.
This led to a major uproar and hundreds of complaints were filed within the last few days. Following the government intervention, private hospitals reportedly proposed to charge Rs 50,000 a day for an ICU bed with a ventilator. The state government, however, plans to bring it down to anything between Rs 23,000-26,000. The state has already posted 14 nodal medical officers in the top private hospitals to coordinate bed provision to the patients.
“We are going to put a cap on treatment charges and to ensure that no patient is denied bed, [we are] reserving 25 per cent of beds in all private hospitals for COVID-19 patients. Its pandemic time and hospitals need to forgo profits,” said a senior official of Haryana Health Department. Meanwhile, Haryana today reported 386 new cases and four deaths due to COVID-19, taking the tally to 4,538. Gurgaon accounted for the most increase, with 129 cases.
Meanwhile, in Punjab, the private hospitals have been charging anything between Rs 30,000-50,000 a day while the treatment is free of cost in government hospitals and around Rs 6,000 a day in semi-government or charitable hospitals. The state government too had been drawing flak from both residents and opposition parties and has now decided to intervene.
“If one hospital providing the same treatment can do so for Rs 50,000 a week, how can others charge the same amount for a day? Despite being a commercial entity, private hospital managements and promoters too have a responsibility during the current pandemic”, said Punjab Health Minister Sidhu.
Meanwhile, with the sudden spurt of cases last week in Punjab, the state has devised a special preparedness plan for Amritsar Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali and Patiala. The district accounts for 60 per cent of the total active cases. A special micro committee would now oversee the COVID-19 management in these districts giving subjective solutions as per the district needs. Punjab today recorded 118 fresh cases and five COVID deaths taking the state total to 3,615.
In a tragic incident, a coronavirus patient hung himself to death in a hospital in Haryana's Ambala district on Thursday. The 52-year-old patient had tested positive on Monday and was admitted to MM Medical College. He was found hanging with a bedsheet in the hospital toilet.