E-Paper
AIIMS-Patna violates govt order on RT PCR test, blames it on ‘software glitch’
AIIMS-Patna director Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh said Friday evening that the anomaly was due to a “software glitch” and ordered waiving off the RT PCR charge with immediate effect.
The Bihar government has said it would seek an explanation from the administration All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Patna after it emerged that it had been charging its general indoor patients for real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) for Covid-19 when other government facilities are not.
AIIMS-Patna had been charging patients ₹1,500 despite the Bihar government capping the RT PCR rate at ₹800 per test for private laboratories.
Asked to comment on the alleged violation of the government order, AIIMS-Patna director Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh said Friday evening that it was due to a “software glitch” and ordered waiving off the RT PCR charge with immediate effect.
As per the new protocol for admission at AIIMS, all patients are kept in a “holding area” for a day and tested for Covid-19, before they are shifted to a ward.
Hindustan Times has accessed bills of a few non-Covid patients, who underwent treatment at AIIMS-Patna recently, and were charged ₹1,500 for Covid-19 RT PCR test.
Sample these:
Ram Sharma, 60, (central registration [CR] number 109112100017825) from Bihar’s Bhojpur district, was admitted at the department of neurosurgery on February 26. He was tested for Covid-19 on February 27 and charged ₹1,500. The patient was listed under Jan Arogya category.
Viraj Anand, a one-year-old child (CR No. 109112100029700) from Jharkhand’s Godda was admitted at the burns and plastic surgery department on February 16. He was tested for Covid-19 on February 16 and billed ₹1,500 for the test. The patient was listed against the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.
Two-year-old Gauri Shankar Kumar (CR No. 109112100208094) from Bihar’s Saharsa district was admitted to the paediatrics department on March 9 and charged ₹1,500 for Covid-19 test.
Rakhi Singh, 45, (CR No. 109112100075388) from Pirpaiti in Bhagalpur district, was admitted to the general surgery department on March 6 and charged ₹1,500 for Covid-19 RT PCR test.
There are more such examples of violation of the December 1, 2020 Bihar government order, which read: “Anyone charging more than ₹800 for the said (RT PCR) test… will be taken as a violation of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897 (Amended)…”
Patna civil surgeon Dr Vibha Kumari Singh said, “We will seek an explanation on this from the AIIMS administration.”
AIIMS director, Dr Singh, however, was quick to acknowledge the slip.
"Charging general patients for RT PCT test was an oversight, caused because of a software glitch. As long as ours was a dedicated Covid-19 hospital till December, last year, all charges, including the cost of drugs, tests and consumables came free of cost to patients. Ever since we began admitting non-Covid patients from January this year, the payment category in our computer software changed to what was set during the pre-Covid period and it began charging patients for RT PCR test as well," said Dr Singh.
“I have issued instructions to make the RT PCR test free to all patients with immediate effect,” he added.
