There was a new article wherein some hospitals in Chennai were asking for an advance of Rs 3 Lacs for admitting a covid19 patient and the charges they were stating was in the region of Rs 1 lac per day without being admitted in ICU, however in the event you are to be taken to ICU then the charges will be Rs 1.5 lacs per day and these statements made were captured on camera. The entire course if we consider being 14 days of treatment to be asymptomatic then the admitted person would be spending approximately Rs 15 lacs but if complications takes place then you need to get ICU & ventilator support and you may end up spending over Rs 30-35 lacs.
Similarly at Delhi even after the Delhi government announced that Delhite covid19 patients will get admission to various hospitals at capped tariffs there were no beds available for coronavirus patients, however if you willing to pay up Rs 5 lacs then you are guaranteed to get admission into the hospital and your final bill would depend on the treatments and usage of specialized equipment.
In Mumbai a covid19 patient was transported just 200 meters to a hospital form a clinic by an ambulance who charged Rs 8000 for this trip. The relatives of the patient have no other alternative but to pay up these exorbitant demands. In this case the incident of payment was caught on camera.
The above cities are not the only cities in India where the private hospitals and ambulance services are taking advantage of the pandemic situation to fleece the public, it is happening all over India and are yet to make the news. One other news was that there was some kind of type of tie up between private testing labs and hospitals and the modus operndi was that the testing lab used to issue false positive report and would advise patients to go to the partner hospital for treatment for which the testing lab gets a hefty commission from the hospital. All these actions just go to show the callousness of people to make money from public when they are already reeling from the effect of covid19 pandemic which has already taken away their earning due to enforcement of lockdown of the country thereby no work and hence no pay. Also most Indians are from Middle class and they do not have the kind of monies involved for the treatment of the virus.
I have few doctor friends who immediately jumped at me and was justifying that the additional money or the high cost is required as the risk is being taken by people in those hospitals etc. and they need to be paid extra. They further commented that if you cannot afford the cost of private hospital go to government hospital. It makes me wonder if they people became doctors for the service of the public or just that they can earn money on the miseries of the diseased persons.
I personally hope that the Indian
Government comes down very hard with all their might against such perpetrators and
mete out very harsh punishment to such hospitals and testing facilities as an
example for all such business not to take advantage of public during a global
pandemic. I do know this is just a pipe dream, for in India .. toda killao tho sab maaf hai ( Part with some
money then law backs down).
The state governments has now capped the amount chargeable by private hospitals and in Chennai it was decided that Rs 7500 will be the maximum charge in a general ward of private hospitals that offer tertiary care, Ra 15000 for ICU care in such hospitals & Rs 22500 if life saving equipment such as ventilators are used. However if the patients wants to check into delux room or suites they will be charged additional. A welcome new indeed but then with this new fees there is hardly any bed free in any of the hospitals and the only way you can get admitted is that if you are willing to pay more and do not make a noise of it !!!!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/76185355.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
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