Mangaluru: DYFI wants special teams to check fleecing of patients at private hospitals

MANGALURU: Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has raised concern over increasing instances of private hospitals fleecing patients undergoing treatment for Covid-19 and other diseases. It has commenced series of protests urging the government to set up teams to check overpricing in private hospitals.
DYFI state president Muneer Katipalla said they have been receiving dozens of complaints everyday from people about private hospitals charging lakhs of rupees for treatment of Covid-19 and other diseases. He alleged that private hospitals were administering Remdesivir injection even to patients with mild symptoms of Covid-19 just to escalate bill amount.
“Though generic brands of Remdesivir injections are available for Rs 2,200 per vial, hospitals charge more than Rs 5,000 for each dose. A course of six injections cost the patients more than Rs 30,000. Meanwhile, even cases with mild symptoms are treated for more than 10 days and bills to the tune of Rs 3-10 lakh are issued, pushing people towards financial distress. Private hospitals ignore the government guidelines related to pricing of treatment. We have also received complaints that private hospitals show no interest in admitting patients below poverty line, who have Ayushman Bharat health insurance cards,” Muneer said.
“The government has announced free treatment for the poor for Covid-19 but there is no mechanism to address the woes of the poor, who are made to search for ICU beds and ventilators,” he said, demanding a fool-proof grievance redressal mechanism and special teams to conduct inspections in private hospitals.
DYFI Dakshina Kannada district secretary Santhosh Bajal said, the forum has already held protests at many places in the district demanding a government medical college in Mangaluru and control over private hospitals and medical colleges that fleece poor patients. “We will continue our protests till the government improves facilities in government hospitals,” he added.