HYDERABAD: Health Minister Eatala Rajender lashed out at private hospitals on Tuesday calling their tactics inhuman. Their actions of charging exorbitant fees and holding bodies of the deceased was a black mark on humanity, Eatala said and assured that strict action would be taken against such hospitals.
The Minister said the government had already instructed hospitals to treat COVID-19 as a service in the face of a pandemic and not as a business opportunity. He emphasised that the government is investigating all violations by private hospitals.
"We have formed a special committee and have begun looking into all complaints of overcharging. We had set an upper limit on price caps. However, we are aware that no one is following the rule. We will look into it all this and take action in the coming days," stated the Minister.
He urged citizens to go to government hospitals for COVID treatment. "People have an impression that going to a government hospital would mean death while going to private one means you will survive. Such things come from two issues — one, an irrational fear of the disease and a false notion that government hospitals have no facilities," added Eatala.
Treatment protocol
He explained that government hospitals now have a common treatment protocol for various categories of patients based on severity. Eatala added that liquid oxygen banks would come up across major hospitals which would give uninterrupted supply for 10 days straight. All district hospitals are being equipped to treat COVID-19 patients and 300 ICU beds are being added at Gandhi.