Ghaziabad admin directs private hospitals to treat every Covid-19 patient even if not financially sound

The Ghaziabad district magistrate on Saturday directed private hospital to treat every Covid-19 patient even if the patient is not financially sound. He said industrial

The Ghaziabad district magistrate on Saturday directed private hospital to treat every Covid-19 patient even if the patient is not financially sound. He said industrial area associations have offered to help the administration foot such bills.

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The administration said it would review cases of those who were financially not in a position to pay the bills and pay it in their stead.District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey also directed the hospitals to provide a copy of the government order and rate list of paid Covid treatment to patients at the time of admission.

On Saturday, the district reviewed its Covid-19 preparations and resolved to intensify their efforts ahead of the festival season.

“I have directed the private hospitals to treat every patient even if the patient is not financially sound. We have held discussions with industrial area associations and they have agreed that they will help us foot the bills of such patients. So, the hospitals have been asked to provide treatment to every patient and also give them copy of the government order for price capping and also put up the rate list at their premises as well on their websites so that there is no confusion,” district magistrate Pandey said.

The prices were capped according to severity of sickness and depending on whether the hospitals were accredited by National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) or not.

However, the July 10 order did not specify whether other charges -- such as testing, medicines --- were to be included or excluded from the rate and that created confusion, inviting many complaints of hospitals overcharging patients. To sort out the issues, the govt on September 10 issued a revised order which clarified the inclusion and exclusion of different charges.

“The directions given by the district magistrate will be complied with and we have spread the message to every member hospital. He has said that every patient, whether Covid or non-Covid, should be provided with treatment. In case the patient is not financially sound, the hospital will send the bill to the administration which will arrange for finances,” said Dr Ashish Agarwal, president of Indian Medical Association – Ghaziabad. “He has also said that the tests should be done only through the private laboratories which are registered with the office of Ghaziabad chief medical officer.”

The district magistrate further added that several directions were also issued for better management of containment zones in order to control spread of infection.

“Under the procedure, the respective incident commanders (administration’s executive magistrates) will be provided with police station wise list and they will have to click the pictures while creating a containment zone as well as during the time when the zone is de-sealed. During the sealing time (generally 14 days), the health department will also carry out certain procedures and monitor the containment zones,” Pandey added.

The health department officials have been asked to monitor that surveillance teams and the rapid response teams (in case of home isolation) reach the containment zones and distribute medicines and carry out 100% testing as per guidelines.

The Indian Council for Medical Research in its advisory on September 4 has advised for 100% testing in containment zones.

In an order on October 3, the UP chief secretary RK Tiwari redefined the area of containment zones which have now become much smaller as compared to those defined as per previous directions given in July 24.