‘Rice gruel for Rs 1,300’: Kerala caps Covid therapy prices at pvt hospitals after HC nod

Kerala capped therapy prices for Covid-19 at personal hospitals Monday after a number of public complaints over exorbitant charges being charged at such hospitals.
The price for a mattress per day within the basic ward of an NABH-accredited hospital can’t exceed Rs 2,910 and Rs 2,645 in a non-NABH hospital as per the federal government order. In high-dependency wards in NABH hospitals, the speed is Rs 4,175 and Rs 3,795 in non-NABH hospitals.
For ICU beds, the charges for NABH and non-NABH hospitals can’t exceed Rs 8,580 and Rs 7,800 respectively. For beds with ventilator help, the utmost charges are Rs 15,180 and Rs 13,800 for NABH and non-NABH hospitals respectively.
These charges can be inclusive of registration, docs costs, oxygen, anesthesia, blood exams, X-ray, nursing and boarding. However, high-end exams like CT chest and HRCT together with prices for medicines like remdesivir and tocilizumab should not included within the charges. Still, the hospitals can’t cost over and above the MRP of those medicines and the traditional charges for the exams. The price for RT-PCR exams will proceed at Rs 500.

If hospitals find yourself imposing costs above the government-prescribed charges, they’d appeal to a penalty 10 instances greater than the affected person’s cost, the federal government order said.
The Kerala High Court Monday orally requested all personal hospitals offering Covid-19 therapy to abide by the charges prescribed by the federal government or else face motion. It slammed hospitals for indulging in profiteering throughout a pandemic.
Citing a report of a non-public hospital purportedly having charged a affected person Rs 1300 for a bowl of kanji, or rice gruel, Justice Devan Ramachandran stated, “Our humble kanji is being charged Rs 1,300. If kanji is charged Rs 1,300, we may find it difficult to swallow.”

The bench of Justices Ramachandran and Kausar Edappagath stated it discovered payments of hospitals charging Rs 25 for a paracetamol and Rs 22,000 for PPE kits. It underlined that individuals can’t be charged on the idea of whether or not they’re wealthy or poor throughout a pandemic.
To handle complaints of exorbitant prices, an appellate authority composed of members together with docs has been shaped.