HYDERABAD: Health Minister Eatala Rajendar said that the State government plans to take over 50 per cent of beds in private hospital including ICU, if the Covid situation deteriorates in the coming days and private hospitals continue to charge exorbitantly.
At a review meeting with officials, he said that this was the only option as there was a deluge of complaints against corporate hospitals that they were overcharging the patients. In line with this line of action, show cause notices have been issued to several hospitals.
Noting that as many as 1,039 complaints have been received against private hospitals, majority on billing issues, the Minister discussed how the bills were being inflated.
One tactic was to collect money without paying bills, seeking an advance amount of `3 lakh to `4 lakh without which admissions was denied, while refusing health insurance or credit card payments.
Another tactic used to fleece patients was to send them for several examinations instead of the standard RT-PCR test. Some of the patients who came for other treatment were also forced to pay for Corona package in name of diagnostics. Based on the explanations given in response to the show cause notices the government will decide future course of action.