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HomeHealthPatients say Delhi pvt hospitals charging huge PPE fees, hospitals say it’s...

Patients say Delhi pvt hospitals charging huge PPE fees, hospitals say it’s within norms

Patients call the fees ‘exorbitant’ but hospitals explain they need nearly 8 PPE kits per patient per day. Delhi govt has allowed them to charge according to their discretion.

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New Delhi: Many Covid-19 patients in Delhi have complained that private hospitals are charging them an “exorbitant” fee for the personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by their doctors and healthcare workers.

Dinesh Gaur, 27, got discharged from Max Hospital, Saket, on 20 May after spending nine days in the Covid ward. His bill, which has been accessed by ThePrint, came to Rs 4,80,000, of which over Rs 70,000 was the fee for PPE kits.

“They charged us Rs 4,300 for the PPE for some days and Rs 8,900 for the PPE for others. This is a mind-boggling fee, given how we are paying so much for the treatment and the additional costs,” Dinesh’s brother Surinder Gaur told ThePrint.

A doctor’s shift in a Covid ICU ward can range from six to eight hours, depending on the hospital, and during that shift, the doctor can treat as many patients as there are in the ICU ward, wearing that one PPE kit.

Max Hospital, however, defended its PPE fee and said it is “as per industry standards and global norms”.

“It’s true that the doctor doesn’t treat just one patient wearing the PPE kit. But the assumption is that we are charging the fee only for the doctor’s PPE kit, but it’s also for the nursing staff, the cleaning and catering staff — all have to enter the ward wearing a PPE kit,” a spokesperson told ThePrint.

Explaining that one PPE kit costs the hospital Rs 1,100, the spokesperson said: “In our Covid ICU ward, eight PPEs per day per patient is the consumption norm. This is why we are charging a patient up to Rs 9,000 per day for the PPE kits.”


Also read: SC asks govt why private hospitals built on free govt land can’t give free Covid treatment


Similar stories elsewhere

The problem, however, is not restricted to one hospital. The family of a woman patient who got treated at Apollo Hospital in Jasola had a similar story to tell.

“She is a cancer patient, so as it is, we are paying a lot for her chemotherapy treatment. Then, they charged us close to Rs 70,000 for the PPE kits for the 12 days she was treated for Covid,” her husband told ThePrint, refusing to be named.

An Apollo Hospital spokesperson said the minimum charge for a PPE kit is Rs 600, but the maximum can vary.

A Delhi resident, who also did not want to be identified, said her uncle was charged Rs 10,000 per day for PPE kits at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. “He was there for a month and the total bill was Rs 15 lakh. Of this, Rs 10,000 per day was just the PPE kit fee,” she said. ThePrint has confirmed her claim by checking the bill.

ThePrint has approached Sir Ganga Ram Hospital through calls, messages and email, and this report will be updated when the hospital responds.

Hospitals have also cited a FICCI ‘accounting methodology’, which puts the PPE kit average costing at Rs 10,000 per day.

Govt allows hospitals to charge what they want

Last Sunday, the Delhi government issued an order stating that all private hospitals with 50 or more beds would need to set aside 20 per cent of their bed strength for Covid-19 patients. A total of 117 private hospitals in Delhi meet this criterion, including Ganga Ram, Apollo, Max, Fortis, and Batra Hospital.

However, the government has not set a cap on what the hospitals can charge — instead, the order categorically states they can bill the patients according to their discretion.

“These 117 private hospitals shall bill the Covid-19 patients as per their respective schedule of charges,” the order states.

ThePrint also approached Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain via calls, text and email, but didn’t receive a response.


Also read: Delhi HC seeks report after WhatsApp video claims Covid patient denied bed by private hospital


‘Unfair burden’

Healthcare experts said charging patients for the use of PPE kits may be an “unfair burden”.

“The whole reason why PPE has been necessitated is in order to protect healthcare workers and to limit the spread of the disease,” Malini Aisola, co-convenor of All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), told ThePrint.

“Then I wonder why both Covid and non-Covid patients ought to be burdened by additional costs that are a direct result of universal precautions being practised during a public health crisis,” she said.

Experts have also suggested that patients are opting out of Covid treatment just to escape this additional payment.

“Covid treatments in private hospitals are so expensive. So, when people are hearing about the additional burden of PPE kit payment, they are choosing to die at home rather than getting treated at a private hospital,” said Saima Furqan, regional programme officer of Pallium India, an organisation working to improve palliative care.


Also read: For dialysis & chemo patients, Covid test every week is a forced ‘rule’ at private hospitals


 

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4 COMMENTS

  1. pvt hospitals charging ppe kits charges from each patient while using one ppe for all.
    that’s not fair
    i have realised this malpractice in tarak hospital on dwarka mor delhi

    print may you answer what can be done?

  2. What we do charges not less in any hospital jabardasti ppt kit de rahe he 10 hajaar me or kamre ka kiraya 6000 rs per day he gareeb kaha se dega ye jimmedari sarkar ko apne haatho me leni chahiye

  3. This huge scam, govt also noticed the issue face by poor/ middle class family but no words because they also get benefited from there I. E profit sharing.. no value for middle class people life and money will decide your fate in hospital whether you pay the huge bill or you die..this is the fact, happening all over the country . Govt has huge power to exercise/ action on looter private hospital but they don’t which is big concerned

  4. Hospitals are fooling the patients and the govt, example, even if they 8 PPE r required daily for in 1 shift. That’s means in three shift = 24 PPE ( if we take 8 hrs shift, waise normally doctors r doing 12 hrs of shift in hospitals), now say if minimum 10 patients r their in ICU, that means approx 2.4 PPE per patients. Secondly doctors are wearing that PPE for their safety also. Can write lot of mismanagement of Pvt hospitals in that note but don’t want to do that. Govt should nationalised these Pvt hospitals and lab for 2 yrs and bring it under their control.

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