Kerala fixes charges for coronavirus treatment

KOCHI: Ater the intervention of High Court, Kerala government on Monday fixed the COVID-19 treatment charges for private hospitals.

The rates for almost all treatment components, right from registration and doctors’ charges to oxygen cylinders and post-discharge diagnostic tests have been published in the order.

Any hospital indulging in charging more the prescribed rates would invite imposition of fines 10 times the extra cost levied from the patient.

The general ward rate is Rs2, 645 a day. For Nabh-accredited hospitals it would be Rs2,910.

A bed in a general ward in a high dependency unit ( HDU) should not cost more than Rs3,795 a day and in an Nabh-accredited hospital, the daily charge can go up to Rs4,175.

For admissions in the ICU, the rate would be Rs7,800 a day maximum and in an NABHaccredited hospital, it is Rs 8,580 a day.

If ventilator support is also given in the ICU, the maximum charges should not exceed Rs13, 800 a day and in an Nabh-accredited hospital it would be Rs15,180 a day.

There will be no change in the rates of COVID-19 tests. The RTPCR rate would continue as Rs500.

Though the cost of PPE kits are not included in the newly fixed charges, the order states that, as agreed by the associations, only two PPE kits should be used daily in general wards and only five in ICUS.

The order also states that all hospitals should publish the rates of various treatments, consumables, medicines, doctors and nursing to make it easily visible to public.

The order issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department on Monday stated that these new charges would include almost all treatment charges, except high-end investigations like CT chest and HRCT chest, PPE kits and costly medications like remdesivir and tocilizumab.

But these exceptions, the order states, should not exceed the MRP of these drugs and consumables and the declared hospital rates for high-end investigations.