The Delhi government on Saturday issued an order capping per-day package rates for COVID-19 treatments in private hospitals between ₹8,000 and ₹18,000.
The per-day rates, including cost of PPE, in hospitals accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) are ₹10,000 for isolation bed, including supportive care and oxygen; ₹15,000 for ICU without ventilator; and ₹18,000 for ICU with ventilator.
For the same, the rates in non-NABH accredited hospitals will be ₹8,000, ₹13,000, and ₹15,000 respectively.
The rates would be applicable to all COVID-19 beds of private hospitals, subject to an upper limit of 60% of the total hospital bed capacity.
“The Delhi Disaster Management Authority accepted the recommendations of the committee under V. K. Paul, member, NITI Aayog,” read the government order.
What is included
“The rates will be all inclusive as a package. This will include, but is not limited to: bed, food and other amenities, monitoring, nursing care, doctors’ visits/ consults, investigations including imaging, treatment as per the national protocol for COVID care and standard care for co-morbidities, oxygen, blood transfusion etc.,” the order said.
The rates also include costs of medical care of underlying co-morbid conditions, including supportive care and cost of medications, for the duration of care for COVID-19.
“Since many of the COVID patients have conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular problems, etc., the charges for medical care of such co-morbidities will be a part of the package. This would include short term haemodialysis as a part of acute care during the current admissions,” the order said.
For pregnant women, costs for delivery (normal or C-section) and care of the newborn will be charged by the hospital extra as per prevailing Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana rates of relevant packages, the order said.
The order also said that there will be no compromise on the quality of clinical care services provided to the patients receiving services on the package rates.