HYDERABAD: AS citizens worry over the cost of treatment at private hospitals for Coronavirus and subsequent health insurance for the same, Director of Medical Education stated that COVID-19 cannot be brought under a special scheme for health insurers as the disease has been classified as pneumonia. In addition to this, while the treatment and the test is completely free, every suspected patient would be costing the State government close to Rs 3,000, depending on how many days the person is isolated for.
Speaking to Express, a well-placed official said, “Each COVID testing kit (RNA testing kit) is close to `2,000. However, these test kits have been procured from the Central government for free. The patients are being kept in the VIP ward, which has been turned into an isolation ward. Each room/cubicle technically costs `200, and the patients are kept anywhere between 24-48 hours.”
Dr K Ramesh Reddy, Director of Medical Education, said, “The COVID-19 cannot be brought under health insurance as a special scheme as the disease has been classified as pneumonia. Because the nature of COVID is still unknown, we are not allowing private hospitals to even test for it. We are also working towards putting a price cap on treatment”.