Despite price cap, private hsopitals continue to overcharge Covid patients

While complaints continue to come in against private hospitals who are overcharging patients for Covid-19 treatment, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)

While complaints continue to come in against private hospitals who are overcharging patients for Covid-19 treatment, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has tasked five bureaucrats with ensuring beds in private hospitals are made available to Covid-19 patients.

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On May 21, the state capped the treatment price for Covid-19 patients in private hospitals. The charges for a bed in isolation ward cannot be more than Rs 4,000 a day. The maximum charge for treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) is ₹7,500 a day, and for those on ventilators, the charge is capped at ₹9,000 a day. These amounts include drugs, doctor’s consultation fees, nursing, food and bed charges, but exclude tests for Covid-19, personal protective equipment (PPE), the cost of expensive drugs like Tocilizumab, and certain scans.

Despite this, some private hospitals are continuing to charge patients over ₹50,000 a day. One of the reasons for the inflated prices is that hospitals are ignoring the state’s guidelines and continuing to charge more than 10% of the net procurement cost for items like PPE, pacemakers, stents, catheters and medical implants.

After 31-year-old homeopathic doctor Dr Mithlesh Singh succumbed to Covid-19 on Monday, his family was given a bill of ₹6,28,000 for 12 days of treatment. He had been admitted to KJ Somaiya Hospital on May 28 and was immediately kept under ventilation. Despite repeated calls and messages, Dr VA Sabnis, dean of the hospital, did not respond.

On June 2, 36-year-old Asma Anwar Shaikh was admitted to MH Saboo Siddique Maternity and General Hospital at around 4pm. On June 3, approximately 19 hours after admission, she was declared dead. Shaikh’s family was charged ₹45,000. The charges in the hospital bill included Rs 4,000 for “disposable Covid”; ₹12,000 for “disposal kit”; ₹3,000 for disposable masks. In addition to charging ₹7,500 for a bed in ICU, the hospital charged ₹3,000 for the ventilator, ₹3,010 for oxygen and ₹3,000 for intubation.

Dr Nazir, administration head of the hospital, said, “We have charged the patient according to protocol. We can’t pay the money for disposable items from our pockets.”

Activist Jitendra Tandel of Rugna Kalyan Seva Samajik Sanstha, who has filed a complaint to the state health department about overcharging at private hospitals, said that there was a need for a protocol to monitor hospitals that are violating rules of the Epidemic Diseases Act. “The state health minister announced patients will be provided treatment free of cost, but it hasn’t been implemented yet,” he added.

Dr Sudhakar Shinde, chief executive officer of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, said, “We are planning to start a helpline number for people to register complaints if they are charged more than the capped amount.” Shinde also said, “At present, district collectors are given the responsibility to hear complaints about overcharging at private hospitals.”

Meanwhile, responding to complaints about the unavailability of beds at private hospitals, BMC commissioner IS Chahal has assigned five Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers with the task of ensuring private hospitals make beds available to Covid-19 patients.