ONGOLE: Prakasam collector has ordered an inquiry into allegations of exorbitant fee being charged from patients by three private Covid-19 hospitals in violation of guidelines issued by the government.
Recently, a Covid patient from Tallur mandal wrote to collector Pola Bhaskar, stating that a private hospital charged him Rs 2.56 lakh for treatment. Several people also made similar allegations against the other two Aarogyasri network hospitals.
As such, the collector has ordered a comprehensive inquiry by a seven-member committee headed by the district medical and health officer. The other members of the committee are district coordinator of hospital services, district audit officer, municipal commissioner, Drugs Control Administration, Assistant Director, RDO and Aarogyasri coordinator. The committee was asked to submit its report within three days.
Meanwhile, the district reported 1,007 Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing the count to 23,718. Of the 1,007 Covid-19 cases, 270 were reported in Ongole alone. With this, the Covid-19 count in the city went up to 5,000.
Due to the steady rise in number of Covid-19 cases, RIMS, Ongole, has been facing severe bed shortage. RIMS superintendent Dr D Sreeramulu said that they were arranging beds for all Covid-19 patients in the hospital. He also refuted allegations over ‘external influence’ in getting admission at RIMS. “These are baseless allegations and we have lodged a police complaint in this regard.”