At ₹6 lakh for 3 days, city hospitals bleed patients dry

At ₹6 lakh for 3 days, city hospitals bleed patients dry

Komal.Gautham@timesgroup.com

Chennai:06.05.2021

Anil Kumar Gupta, 66, spent ₹6 lakh for three days treatment of his Covid-positive son in two small private hospitals in the Nanganallur area. But his son couldn’t be saved. The patient had a heart issue too and the smaller hospitals weren’t equipped to deal with it. They told Gupta to take his son to a bigger hospital, but not before both hospitals made him pay ₹1 lakh deposit and another ₹1.5 lakh as treatment charges. All they did was give him a bed, Gupta told TOI.

“Another son is recovering in one of the private hospitals. I understand the situation is bad but hospitals and doctors I met behaved very rudely. One even pushed me out of his hospital,” Gupta said.

Sathish M* from Pursawalkam said two of his family members were admitted to a small private hospital. “They spoke about packages and said they would charge from insurance for eight days. Though my son could have been discharged on the seventh day, they delayed it. At a time when people are searching for beds, I didn’t find this humane, “ he said.

“Also, they charged separately for rooms, PPE kits and doctors fees though my son and my mother were in the same room. This came to more than ₹1 lakh extra,” he added.

Radhika R, of OMR, said she was charged for oxygen though she didn’t require it. “Moreover, they make us run around to buy medicines,” she said.

Sathish G, a social activist from OMR, said his friend in Adambakkam paid ₹1.5 lakh as miscellaneous charges for three days of hospitalization. “It wasn’t even an oxygen bed,” he said.

When TOI tried to contact the five private hospitals mentioned by these patients, three didn’t respond. Representatives of two hospitals, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had no choice but to charge more as they had stopped all other surgeries and converted almost 80% of their beds for Covid patients. “I agree paying ₹1 lakh a day is too much. That needs to stop. But hospitals are desperate to earn. The government fixed ceiling of ₹15,000 a day will not cover our expenses. We cannot run at a loss,” said one of the doctors of a private hospital.

Director of public health Dr T S Selvavinayam and state health secretary J Radhakrishnan told TOI that they would take action on complaints that are formally lodged.

A senior health official told TOI that they were walking a tightrope. “We cannot crackdown on hospitals like we did last year as we don’t have enough beds. If we have 10,000 beds ready for patients, we can act. But we want private hospitals to increase their facilities and create more oxygen beds. So it is a tricky situation,” he said.