Gurugram plans to cap Covid-19 treatment cost in private hospitals

The officials said that they are considering to adopt Ahmedabad model for the purpose, while also studying various states’ models.

The district health department is planning to put a ceiling on the treatment cost of Covid-19 in private hospitals. The rates are likely to be fixed in the range of ₹10,000 to ₹23,000 per Covid-19 bed for a single day, officials said, adding that it will help the district administration tackle the rapid surge in the number of Covid-19 patients.

Currently, 67 Covid-19 patients in the district are on ventilator support in 35 private hospitals, the officials said. (Yogendra Kumar/HT file photo)

The officials said that they are considering to adopt Ahmedabad model for the purpose, while also studying various states’ models.

Explaining the Ahmedabad model, a senior official in the health department privy to the matter said, “As per their model, private hospitals cannot charge more than ₹10,000 per bed for a day in a general ward. For the High Dependency Unit (HDU), which is for patients who do not need intensive care but can’t be kept in general ward as well, the per day charges are ₹14,000.”

“While for the isolation and intensive care unit (ICU), the prices are capped at ₹19,000. In case, a patient requires critical care support like ventilator, the cost cannot exceed ₹23,000 per day,” said the official.

The health officials also said that they are studying price models of Telangana and Maharashtra too.

In Gurugram, hospitals are charging up to ₹80,000 per day for providing critical care to patients who require ventilator support for breathing, said the official quoted above.

Currently, 67 Covid-19 patients in the district are on ventilator support in 35 private hospitals, the officials said.

On Monday, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had constituted a committee, comprising the divisional commissioner, MCG commissioner and chief medical officer (CMO), to look into the issue. The committee is likely to submit its suggestions on capping the Covid treatment cost by Friday.

V S Kundu, chief executive officer of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, who is also in-charge of Covid-19 preparations in the district, said, “Under the chairmanship of divisional commissioner, the recommendations have almost been finalised.”

The nodal officer for hospital management in Gurugram, Vivek Kalia, who is also the estate officer at Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), said, “We are ensuring that the multi-specialty hospitals stringently follow the directions issued by the district administration. In order to ensure that patients are properly attended to and are not overcharged, regular visits of our officials have started.”

According to him, nodal medical officers have been deputed hospital-wise who would be looking into any grievances related to Covid-19 treatment cost.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in May issued an order for requisition of 50% of the total number of beds in 42 hospitals. The AMC also defined the prices for a government hospital. The ventilator facility charges were around Rs 11,250 per day. For isolation and the ICU, the charges were fixed at Rs 9,000, while Rs 6,750 for HDU and Rs 4,500 for general ward . The rates per day for private beds did not include the cost of medicines, doctors visit fee, lab tests and dialysis. But the rates included two meals, breakfast, evening tea and snacks.

Mukesh Kumar, commissioner, AMC, was unavailable for a comment.

Earlier this week, a private hospital chain in Delhi was under the lens for charging Rs 53,000 per day in the ICU without a ventilator, and with the ventilator prices spiked to Rs 72,000 per day.The hospital on June 14 issued a statement that the charges included most treatment packages for the very critical Covid-19 patients who alone are treated at our facility.

“The costs shown on that poster include not only the room rent but also visits by RMO / intensivists / senior consultants; nebulization and oxygen charges; all medicines and supplements needed for Covid treatment; all medical consumables; all routine pathology and radiology investigations such as X-ray, Ultrasound and ECG as well as diet and related charges,” read the statement.