Telangana govt directed to file report on excessive charges by pvt hospitals in treating COVID-19 patients

Telangana High Court directed the state government to take action against the private hospitals for charging exorbitantly and issue guidelines for maintaining transparency in the matter of treatment and billing against all the patients.

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to file a report on a petition alleging that private hospitals were charging excessively from COVID-19 patients beyond the limit prescribed by the government.

The PIL was filed by advocate Srikishan Sharma seeking a direction to the state government to take action against the private hospitals for charging exorbitantly and issue guidelines for maintaining transparency in the matter of treatment and billing against all the patients.

The petitioner submitted that the Maharashtra government has imposed restrictions by way of a notification restricting the maximum bill that can be claimed by private hospitals but there is no such restriction imposed by the Telangana government.

The petitioner also cited some of the bills of a few patients, including a COVID-19 patient, to substantiate the "exploitation" by private corporate hospitals.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, referred to the petitioner's contention and asked for a report from the government over the matter. The Court, while posting the matter to July 14, also issued notices to the Central government and the private hospitals. (PTI)