Mangaluru: Members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) began a series of protests here against the growing number of instances of city hospitals fleecing patients infected with COVID-19 and other diseases.
They urged the government to form teams to check the private hospitals that are overcharging their patients.
Speaking on the occasion, DYFI state president Muneer Katipalla said they have received many complaints from people regarding the private hospitals charging lakhs of rupees to treat Covid-19 and other diseases.
He also accused the private hospitals of administering Remdesivir injections to patients with mild Covid-19 symptoms just to increase the bill. He said that even though there are generic brands of Remdesivir injections available for Rs 2,200 per vial, hospitals are charging, in some case, more than Rs 5,000 for each dose.
“One course of six injections will cost the patients more than Rs 30,000. Those with even mild symptoms are being treated for more than 10 days and bills of Rs 3-10 lakh are issued, causing the people financial distress,” he said, adding that private hospitals are ignoring the government’s guidelines related to the pricing of COVID-19 treatment.
“We have also received complaints that private hospitals are not showing any interest in admitting those patients who fall below the poverty line or those who have Ayushman Bharat health insurance cards,” Muneer is quoted by TOI as saying.
The government has announced free COVID-19 treatment for the poor but there is no mechanism to address the latter’s woes. They are made to search for ICU beds and ventilators, he added and demanded that, apart from a fool-proof grievance redressal mechanism, special teams be set up to conduct inspections in private hospitals.
The DYFI also filed a complaint with the District Health Officer, demanding an investigation in this regard.
Image source: Abdul Muneer/Facebook
