It’s a deadline set to expire on Tuesday. All private hospitals and nursing homes in the state are required, under a notification issued by the state health and family welfare department, to list the services they offer and the rates they charge for public display.
However, the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association has listed its objections and sought an extension of the deadline.
The hospitals have been given the freedom to decide the rates for their services, but they need to display the rates charged. The order was issued on November 10, 2009, and the deadline to implement it is set to expire on Tuesday.
The government has said thathospitals that fail to fall in line would be closed down. The main purpose behind the notification issued under the Private Hospitals Act was to prevent hefty and hidden charges being levied on patients and their families.
“The notification was sent to all private hospitals on November 10, 2009. A three-member district-level committee, comprising the district health officer, the deputy commissioner of health and a representative from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), will be formed to keep a check on the private hospitals after the deadline,” said Dr Ramesh, joint director, medical, state health and family welfare department.
The implementation of the new rule has been welcomed by patients. “It is good that we will now be able to see the rates of each service before getting admitted. Otherwise,when the bill at the end of the treatment is of a hefty sum, we can do little but pay up.Even a normal x-ray is charged heavily and differently in private hospitals,” said Praveen G, a software professional, who was recently admitted to a top city hospital. Not many hospitals, however, see logic in the notification.
“There are close to 300 procedures available. It is impractical to display the prices of all of them. We could display charges for routine procedures, and make the rates for the rest availableon demand,” said Dr H Paramesh,president, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association and director, Lakeside Hospital and Medical Centre.
Manipal Hospital hasn’t received any notification from the health department yet. “There are around 2,000 different surgeries done here. It’s not possible to display rates for all of them,” said Dr Nagendra Swamy, COO, Manipal Hospital.
The notification also specifies a minimum size for clinics, depending on their specialties. The clinics that fail to meet the criterion will have to shut shop. The notification put the minimum floor area for a clinic at 150 square feet. “This is going to be a problem, more so in slums and rural areas,” said Dr Paramesh.
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