E-Paper
Gurugram likely to consider charges fixed for Covid-19 treatment in Delhi’s pvt hospitals
Gurugram:
Gurugram:
As a committee formed by the Centre has capped the charges for Covid-19 treatment in Delhi’s private hospitals, the Gurugram administration on Friday said that the national capital’s price packages would have “an influence” on the proposed rates for treatment in the district.
Stating that since Delhi-NCR is now being considered as one unit for Covid-19 management, Ashok Sangwan, divisional commissioner, said, “The treatment cost fixed for Delhi’s private hospitals does have an influence on the package we are proposing to the state government. The final decision has to be taken by the state. We have submitted the proposed rates.”
The Haryana government is in the process of fixing rates for the Covid-19 treatment in private hospitals in the state.
On Friday, the committee, led by NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul, fixed the rates charged by private hospitals in Delhi for isolation beds, intensive care unit (ICU) without ventilator support and ICU with ventilator support.
According to the committee, an isolation bed per day would cost Rs 8,000-10,000, which was earlier somewhere between Rs 24,000 -25,000. The treatment in an ICU without a ventilator can cost between Rs 13,000 and Rs 15,000. It increases up to Rs 18,000 if a critical patient requires ventilator support. The rates include cost of PPEs and medicines.
Earlier, without the price check, the treatment cost requiring ventilator exceeded up to Rs 54,000.
In Gurugram too, Covid-19 treatment cost of a critical patient in private hospitals for a day ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000.
On Thursday, Union home minister Amit Shah had chaired a meeting on Covid-19 management in Delhi-NCR. Sangwan, who was present in the meeting, said, “A mandate has been given by the central government to consider Delhi-NCR as one unit. For fixing the treatment cost of Covid-19, we would be considering the figures recommended by other affected districts in the NCR region. A recommendation committee has also been constituted in Faridabad. We are taking inputs from them also.”
Mentioning that deciding the price package is a complex process, Sangwan said, “There are different requirements in deciding the overall cost. It includes the cost of PPEs, medicines, specialized services, tertiary care, among others. The final price package will be released soon.”
The nodal officers appointed for hospital management in the district were unavailable for comment on Friday.
On June 15, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had constituted a committee, comprising the divisional commissioner, MCG commissioner and chief medical officer (CMO), to submit its suggestions on capping the Covid treatment cost by Friday.
On Wednesday, the Gurugram administration officials had said that they were looking at Ahmedabad model, and the models of states like Maharashtra and Telangana to derive a conclusion on capping the treatment cost.
Also, a press conference was held on Friday by the officials of the district administration, which included Sangwan, deputy commissioner Amit Khatri, and Municipal Corporation of Gurugram commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh. Khatri said, “Gurugram is the health capital for having good infrastructure. There is enough availability of beds to treat Covid-19 patients.” It was the first time in the past three months since the Covid-19 crisis started in the city that the officials addressed the media.
