Telangana: Notice to 64 private hospitals for inflated Covid bills

HYDERABAD: Telangana health authorities on Thursday served 88 show cause notices to 64 private hospitals for allegedly overcharging Covid-19 patients and set a 48-hour deadline to respond or lose licence to treat coronavirus patients.
Health department officials said majority of the hospitals operate out of Hyderabad and Cyberabad. They now stand to lose their licenses as they have multiple complaints against them, mainly of excess billing.
“Of the 88 complaints received, 39 are from core Hyderabad city, 22 from Medchal- Malkajgiri, 135 from Ranga Reddy. Majority of the hospitals are in Hyderabad. The one that has the highest number of complaints is a hospital in Kukatpally,” Telangana public health director Dr G Srinivasa Rao said.
Most of the complaints received are about excessive billing, vaccination, bed occupancy and drug-related issues.
Charge of excess billing was a common complaint with some patients being asked to pay Rs 1.5 lakh bill for an overnight stay in the hospital. Another patient was told to pay Rs 20 lakh for his three-week Covid-19 treatment.
The offences are being viewed very seriously as per directions of the task force committee headed by minister KT Rama Rao,” said Dr Srinivasa Rao. In Hyderabad city, hospitals located in Kukatpally, Begumpet, Kachiguda, Abids, LB Nagar, Alwal, Shahpurnagar, Kondapur, KPHB, New Bowenpally and Secunderabad are in the list of offenders.
Apart from Hyderabad, complaints were received against hospitals in Medchal-Malkajgiri, Ranga Reddy, Warangal Urban, Mahabubnagar, Nizamabad and Yadadri.
“With more discharges happening in the recent past, the number of complaints have gone up. The 88 hospitals have been given 48 hours to respond on the complaints, failing which their licenses for Covid-19 treatment will be cancelled,” added Dr Rao.
He said health authorities are looking into the complaints posted on Twitter also.
“We urge people to us the WhatsApp number 9154170960 to lodge their complaints by attaching related documents. Our teams will take immediate action,” said the top health official.
In 2020, the government slapped notices on three private hospitals and cancelled licence of one of them.