Tirupati probes cheating of Covid patients

Amid growing complaints from public over exploitation of Covid patients by greedy private hospitals in Tirupati, the district administration has conducted an inquiry.

The inquiry by senior officials is said to have found violation of government guidelines. It has come across cases where patients were burdened with inflated medical bills, refusal of treatment on the pretext of non-availability of beds and failure to display rates fixed by government.

“Though government has fixed a standard tariff for Covid treatment, the packages vary in the name of special facilities in all the 10 private hospitals in the city. The cost of treatment varies for cases categorised as mild, moderate and critical. Almost all the private hospitals are charges each patient anywhere between

`15,000 to `75,000 per day,” a senior health official said.

The probe found that six of the hospitals were charging exorbitant rates in the name of special packages and facilities. For mild cases, the charges are anywhere between

`15,000-`35,000 per day,

`30,000-`45,000 for moderate cases and

`40,000-`75,000 for critical patients per day.

District collector Dr Gupta, who inspected the private hospitals in the city, announced appointment of a nodal officer to keep tab on private hospitals fleecing patients.

“It has come to our notice that some private hospitals are charging patients heavily. We want to make it clear that the government will not tolerate such unfair practices. Hence, nodal officers were appointed to ensure compliance with guidelines, ” said Dr Gupta.