New Delhi: According to Delhi government, in private hospitals certified by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) the cost of treatment varies between Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000 per day based on the ward.
However, the ground reality remains different. Many private hospitals are charging exorbitant rates from COVID-19 patients. Their modus operandi is to ignore phone calls from patients and insisting them to get admitted by making initial deposits which exceed the amount capped by the health department.
ETV Bharat tried to contact many hospitals in Delhi including Max, Sir Gangaram, BL Kapoor and Venkateshwar hospital to name a few.
While hospitals like Venkateshwar refused to entertain any calls regarding the pricing per day, some other hospitals including Gangaram were able to confirm the institute was following the capped rates set by the Arvind Kejriwal-led government.
It is to be noted that no hospital has so far come forward claiming difficulty in providing treatment as per the rates fixed by the government and the petitioner cannot assume the amounts fixed were unreasonable.
The person who received the call from Gangaram COVID control room number admitted that the beds meant for corona patients are available at the fixed rate.
Read: Over 23% of Delhi’s population exposed to coronavirus, shows sero-survey results
The hospital was also quick to advise to share the patient's present condition before getting admitted. The ventilator facility was also assured based on the need of the patients. All rates discussed during the call was in line with government advisory.
Meanwhile, BL Kapoor hospital authorities were reluctant to share the rates and wanted the patient to get admitted first. The transparency, in this case, is questionable as urging patients to get admitted without assessing the conditions is unethical.
In isolation ward, the cost is Rs 10,000 per day, in ICU without ventilator it is Rs 15,000 and in ICU with ventilator, it is Rs 18,000.
In private hospitals without NABH certification, the rates are Rs 8,000, Rs 13,000 and Rs 15,000 per day, respectively.
The prices in Delhi are higher than in other states as here the price of advanced medicines and PPE kits have also been factored in and these have to be provided to the patient if required.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Dr KK Aggarwal, President of the Confederation of Medical Association of Asia and Oceania and former president of Indian Medical Association (IMA) said that if residents have non-pulmonary COVID then there is no need to get admitted in COVID facilities.
More than 23% of Delhi’s 1.9 crore population showed evidence of past exposure to Sars-Cov-2, and hence there is a declining trend in the number of cases and the fatality rate.
"When 50% of the population gets infected only then we can think about herd immunity. We do not know till how long will the recovered person's immunity will last. We do not know anything about the cellular immunities either," Dr Aggarwal said.
With a spike of 37,724 cases and 648 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India stands at 11,92,915, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The total number of cases includes 4,11,133 active cases, 7,53,050 cured/discharged/migrated and 28,732 deaths, the Health Ministry informed.
