Private hospitals seek big advance FAMILY DOCTORS ARE BACK IN HIGH DEMAND
Private hospitals are demanding additional charges from Covid 19 patients for possible complications. This money has to be paid before admission. Those who cannot pay are being told there are no beds.
Senior doctors who are referring patients to hospitals are finding themselves at the receiving end as the patients in a severe condition are having to go from one hospital to another, if they are unable to make the payment.
This has also put them in a fix as they are not sure which hospitals they can refer their family and friends to.
A senior doctor, who faced the predicament, told Deccan Chronicle, “The patient was short of `50,000 and I had to give my word to the hospital that it will be paid.”
The deposits are said to range from `3 lakh to `5 lakh. Some hospitals charge `25,000 to `50,000 as deposit. They state that these amounts are collected in advance for additional expenses for personal protection equipment, isolation wards and disinfection.
Hospitals say this is one of the prime reasons that mild cases are urged to be managed at home for those who have the facility of an extra room and bathroom.
But those who do not have the facility are in a fix. A family of six or 14 members when infected together has no one to take care of them. They all cannot be managed at home. All of them are rushing to hospitals. There is now a case in every lane and corner of the city and as testing accelerates it is becoming more and more difficult to manage.
Mujtaba Hasan Askari, president of Helping Hand Foundation, said, “Home care is possible for the upper middle class. But there are many who are not able to understand doctors instructions on video counselling. These are becoming a challenge to manage at home level.”
With private hospitals citing lack of beds, family physicians are once again in demand as they are acting as facilitators for patients.
Dr Ashish Chauhan, senior general physician, said, families and friends were approaching their family doctors for advice. “That is the way forward in these times due to the current situation. It has become important as many people go to hospitals and find no beds.”
Family physicians find that they can manage the patients with basic counselling in terms of mild cases and that will go a long way in controlling the disease. With more and more members in one family suffering it has become a challenging situation for many.
Dr Dilip P.S., family physician, said, “We are carrying out video counselling and that is also now a mode of consultancy. People have to understand that online consultancy has to be paid and it is not for free.”
HOSPITALS SAY this is one of the prime reasons that mild cases are urged to be managed at home for those who have the facility of an extra room and bathroom.
Meanwhile, an appeal has been made to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to impose curfew in Old City as 15 per cent symptomatic patients are rushing to hospitals and five per cent of them are turning critical. Most of these patients are not able to afford private hospitals and are trying for admission in government hospitals.
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