Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 22

With the UT Administration going hard against overcharging by private hospitals, the latter have demanded revision of charges for Covid treatment.

The helpline set up by the Administration against the fleecing of Covid patients by private hospitals has so far received 14 complaints and the authorities have initiated investigation into these.

As per the complaints, the private hospitals were allegedly charging extra for oxygen and medicines even as these were part of the package notified by the UT Administration on April 24.

A UT health official said private hospitals did not raise the issue of “unjust charges” notified by the Administration earlier. “They have raised their voice only when inspections have started after a month of notification,” said the official.

According to private hospitals, the UT’s charges per patient per day are meagre in comparison to the expenses incurred by them.

“Critical Covid-19 patients who are on high oxygen support consume around six-seven cylinders a day, which comes to around Rs4,000-Rs5,000. The cost of commonly used medicines, equipment (ventilator, Bi-PAP, oxygen flow meter, etc) and consumables like gloves, masks, PPE kits, etc, has doubled owing to the shortage and profiteering, thus increasing our cost significantly,” reads a representation submitted by the city’s private healthcare institutes.

“The packages specified by the Administration have no capping on the expense of oxygen, medicines, lab investigation and other consumables. In many cases, the actual cost to the hospital on the above is more than the permitted package per day,” it added.

The hospitals also raised the issue of fleecing by private oxygen vendors as they were charged extra amounts over and above the permitted charge and no receipts were being issued for the excess amount. Dr Amandeep Kaur Kang, Director Health Services, UT, said: “The issue will be flagged at the higher level and revision of rates will be decided by the higher authorities.”