Punjab Government caps Covid treatment charges

To stop the fleecing of patients at the hands of private hospitals, the state government has capped charges for Covid-19 treatment in hospitals empanelled under the state insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat-Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana.

The government has capped the charges of six illnesses — acute febrile illness, pyrexia of unknown origin, pneumonia, severe pneumonia, respiratory failure and type 1/2 respiratory failure. The government order said empanelled private hospitals cannot charge more than Rs 1,800 per day for bed in general ward, Rs 2,700 in high dependency unit, Rs 3,600 for ICU bed without ventilator and Rs 4,500 for ICU bed with ventilator.

All empanelled private hospitals under the insurance scheme are mandated to provide cashless treatment to the beneficiaries of the scheme having severe acute respiratory infection (SARI)/Covid-19.

The order also said the Covid-19 beneficiary patients were to be admitted under any of the packages listed under the scheme in accordance with the requirement of the patient. It is mandatory to upload Covid-19 test report while submitting online discharge of the patient on the TMS portal, failing which the claim of the package shall not be entertained by the insurance company.

The state government, in exercise of the powers bestowed under Section 2 of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897, has directed that no empanelled hospital under the scheme shall charge any amount in excess of what is prescribed in the scheme packages.

The empanelled hospitals have been directed to ensure hassle-free cashless medical services to the beneficiary patients and facilitate their admission/treatment/discharge etc. without any delay or denial of services or charging any additional payment and without compromising on the standards of treatment or care of the patient.