Telangana caps test price at ₹2,200, bed for ₹4k/day

Amrita.Didyala@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:  16.06.2020

Telangana on Monday capped prices for testing and treatment of Covid-19 patients in private facilities, as the state prepares to widen the battle to contain the virus. Private hospitals, however, say the proposal is not feasible and plan to meet the state health minister, Eatala Rajender, to renegotiate the tariff.

Rajender said the RT-PCR swab test for Covid-19 virus has been capped at Rs 2,200 in private labs (if samples are collected from home Rs 2,800 may be charged), while charges for a normal isolation bed facility has been fixed at Rs 4,000 per day. Treatment charges without ventilator facility have been capped at Rs 7,500 per day, while that for treatment with ventilator has been set at Rs 9,000 per day.

These tariffs include monitoring charges and charges for investigations like CBC, urine, HIV spot, anti HCV, Hbs Ag serum creatinine, USG, 2D echo, X-ray, ECG, consultations, bed charges, meals and procedures like Ryles tube insertion and urinary tract catheterization.

Hospitals have been directed to display these costs and asked to refrain from admitting asymptomatic patients and patients with mild symptoms. Hospitals and labs have been mandated to enter real-time data on the digital platform www.chfw.telangana.gov.in.Treatment continue to be free at government hospitals.