Ensure pandemic isn’t exploited for profit

The Covid-19 pandemic has reminded the world of the dangers of leaving the health of millions to the mercies of insurance companies and the market. In Tamil Nadu, a state famous for its private hospitals that draw patients from across the world, it is the government hospitals and its medical professionals who have been doing the heavy lifting. The state has more than 19,000 cases, with the capital city of Chennai having blown past the 10,000 figure just days ago. A vast majority of the patients are being treated in government hospitals and the mortality rate has remained at a low 0.75%. Even in Chennai, where government hospitals have run out of beds, the mortality rate is only slightly higher at 0.83%.

However, the actions of private hospitals in the city have drawn criticism from the government sector, with two even receiving an oral warning for shifting Covid-19 patients to government hospitals once their condition declines or as they become unable to pay the high costs. Although the hospitals have denied the allegations, government hospitals and health officials maintain that private hospitals are attempting to shift dying patients to them.

Indeed, a study of the medical bulletin released by the state government suggests as much, with at least a handful of such cases in which patients have died within hours of being shifted from a private hospital to a government one. Similarly, patients have also complained of the high costs of private healthcare for Covid-19 treatment. While private hospitals, as businesses, have the right to charge what they will for treatment, the question arises as to whether such an approach is fair amidst a health crisis.

While the state has had its fumbles in the handling of the pandemic, it has undoubtedly also got some things right—testing is high, management of patients has been widely appreciated and deaths have been relatively low. However, the government should also take action against errant private hospitals and ensure the crisis isn’t exploited for profit, that too at the cost of patients’ lives.