The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will discuss fixing a price ceiling for treatment of Covid-19 patients and reducing the cost of testing in private labs. (Express file photo by Prem Nath Pandey)
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will discuss fixing a price ceiling for treatment of Covid-19 patients and reducing the cost of testing in private labs.
The meeting agenda reads, “Fixing price ceiling for treatment by private hospitals as some of them are charging exorbitant price and seeking huge advances… Fixing ceiling for charges of private ambulance services as some of them are charging huge prices. Reducing prices being charged by private labs for Covid tests to make it affordable to general public.”
While there is no cap on treatment cost in private hospitals at present, Covid tests are capped at Rs 4,500. The cost of admission and treatment can vary significantly depending on which hospital you are admitted to.
The meeting will be chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, who is also the DDMA chairperson. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava and Chief Secretary Vijay Dev are also among other members scheduled to attend.
Last week, the Delhi government had ordered hospitals to display the cost of admission and treatment at prominent places inside the hospital so that they are easily visible to visitors. It had also asked hospitals to submit details to the department concerned.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday said that they were examining the costs. “All the hospitals have been asked to share the rates that they are charging for Covid treatments. We will decide on what to do after observing every hospital,” he said.
There are over 100 government and private hospitals offering admission to Covid patients in the city at present. The number of private testing labs authorised to conduct Covid tests are 23.
The officials will also discuss whether provision for temporary crematoriums and makeshift mortuaries, such as containers with air-conditioning and bunk beds, should be started in hospital campuses. As the number of deaths due to Covid or suspected to have been caused by Covid have gone up over the past three weeks, storing bodies and conducting funerals has turned into a tough task for hospital authorities and families, with the Delhi High Court issuing orders to ensure dead bodies are not allowed to pile up in mortuaries. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital has been running a temporary mortuary from an air-conditioned container for several weeks.
District authorities are already working on setting up temporary hospitals in stadiums, fields and banquet halls. These preparations will also be discussed on Tuesday’s meeting, along with the possibility of turning vacant apartment blocks into hospitals. The city had earlier used vacant DDA and DUSIB flats as quarantine centres for those who returned from abroad.
DDMA also received a proposal from the Greater Kailash-I RWA, wherein they can be empowered by giving them oxygen cylinders, oximeters, concentrators and primary healthcare training, beds in community centres and civil defence volunteers.