Hry minister warns private hospitals against overcharging

Chandigarh, May 3 (IANS) Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said on Monday that strict action would be initiated against private hospitals found overcharging Covid-19 patients.

He said the rates of beds and other facilities have been fixed for coronavirus patients. Currently, 42 private hospitals in the state are treating Covid patients.

The government has fixed the rates at Rs 10,000 per day for isolation beds in the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) and Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited hospitals, Rs 15,000 for ICU beds without ventilators and Rs 18,000 for ICU beds with ventilators.

Similarly, in non-NABH accredited hospitals, the rates have been fixed at Rs 8,000 per day for isolation beds, Rs 13,000 for ICU beds without ventilators and Rs 15,000 for ICU beds with ventilators.

Vij said that rates for conducting Covid tests have also been fixed for private labs at Rs 450 for RT-PCR, Rs 500 for Rapid Antigen and Rs 250 for ELISA test.

He said that strict action would be taken if any hospital is found charging more than these fixed rates from the patients.

A three-member committee has been constituted for the distribution of Tocilizumab injection as per the requirement of patients admitted to government and private hospitals, Vij said.

The state's nodal officer of Covid-19, Dhruv Chaudhary, has been appointed as the chairman of the committee, which also includes Rajeev Badera and Sushila Kataria as members.

The minister also said that about 70 per cent of the patients admitted to the hospitals in Haryana are from Delhi and other adjoining states, who are also being treated in the same way.