Very expensive treatment! Daily charges of a corona patient

With India crossing 2.5 lakhs of Coronavirus cases, individual affordability is very expensive. As access to healthcare is quite expensive for many in India the treatment for COVID -19 is unaffordable for most of the people will not be able to afford it.

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Let’s take a look at some facts:

• On average, treatment of a normal COVID – 19 careers, without ventilators or other life-saving equipment, costs between Rs. 20,000 and 25,000 daily.
• Which means a 14-day treatment of a patient costs between Rs. 2,80,000 to Rs. 3,50,000.
• Some of the private hospitals charge between Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 50,000 per day for a ventilator.
• According to The Indian Express, the bill of a COVID infected person could vary from 3 lakhs a week to 16 lakhs a month. Because there’s no specific treatment, one ends up paying more.
• Because there’s isn’t any specific drug to treat COVID, there are only experimental treatments that are being used right now and are very costly. For example, a drug named Tocilizumab is being used and one dose of this drug costs between Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 60,000.
• Another added cost for the treatment is of the PPE kits which the patients are supposed to pay and while the cost depends on different hospitals, one pays Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 15,000 per day.
• Room rent will depend on the hospitals, but the cheapest will cost between Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,500 a day. If you are to be put into an ICU, it can cost you Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 16,000 a day.
• Apart from that, there are several other charges like testing your oxygen levels, added consultation which can range from Rs. 2500 to Rs. 5,000 per day. Just the monitoring fees are as high as Rs. 3,000.
•  Usually, patients are discharged after 3 to 5 consecutive tests turn negative. One swab test of suspected patient costs Rs. 4,500. The kit alone costs Rs. 3,000.

(Source – ScoopWhoop.com)

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Action by Delhi Government

In the wake of an unpredicted rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi, government issued a list of 56 private hospitals with 50 or more beds and asked them to reserve 20 percent beds for the patients of Economically Weaker Section (EWS). The order listed all the hospitals which were allotted land at concessional rates by land-owning agencies and are under an obligation to provide 10 percent IPD and 25 percent of total OPD free of charge to eligible patients from the EWS category, to reserve beds for EWS patients with coronavirus infection.

Eight hotels are offering paid quarantine facilities for those who are coming from abroad and all those who want to avail of the facilities. The list includes Hotel Le Meridien (200 rooms) and J.W. Marriot (100 rooms), Holiday Inn (100 rooms), Hotel Pride Plaza (300 rooms), Aloft Hotel (150 rooms), IBIS Hotel (200 rooms), ITC Welcome (250 rooms), and Taj Vivanta (150 rooms).

While the premium hotel can only charge Rs. 4,000 plus taxes in single occupancy with three meals, while for double occupancy, the maximum limit is Rs. 4,800 plus taxes with three meals.

Private Hospitals and FICCI Proposes a Plan

Amid growing concerns that some private hospitals are billing Covid-19 patients and their families exorbitantly, an association of private hospitals across India and FICCI member hospitals has come up with two independent sets of rates for treatment of infected patients admitted in private hospitals.

The Association of Healthcare Providers, which claims to represent the vast majority of private hospitals, has suggested that for patients in general wards the fee per day should be fixed at Rs 15,000 per day, in wards with oxygen it should be Rs 20,000 per day and isolation ICUs can cost Rs 25,000 every day

The AHPI has also proposed that the rate per day for isolation ICUs with ventilator support can be fixed at Rs 35,000. It made it clear thought the pricing does not include high-end drugs like immunoglobulin, tocilizumab, and plasma therapy which, if used, will be charged separately. Also, the management of co-morbid complications will be charged as per actuals.

FICCI task force on COVID 19 on the other hand in its proposal sent to the Union government has suggested fixing these rates from Rs 17,000—Rs. 45,000 per day. The suggested prices come even as kin of some COVID 19 patients in some cities, including Delhi have complained of hefty bills being charged by several private hospitals in the treatment of the infectious disease that has taken the world by storm. In the wake of these charges, some state governments such as Maharashtra and Rajasthan have made moves to fix price limits on treatment costs for the disease in private hospitals.

The costing suggested is based on the assessment carried out in hospitals, which are treating Covid-19 patients and have the experience of actual costing relating to the use of PPEs, infection control measures, HR aspect of Healthcare workers, who are deployed in shifts and need to be quarantined, said the two industry bodies.

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