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Private hospitals ignore Govt. appeal to reduce blood test charges
View(s):Several private hospitals are ignoring the Govt’s call to lower charges for blood reports in the light of the raging dengue. They have arbitrarily reverted to the earlier rates charged for blood reports as of this week.
Recently, private hospitals slashed the fee charged for a full blood count (FBC), essential in the management of dengue, to about half (Rs 250) following a Health Ministry request to help the country overcome the crisis.
However, the Sunday Times found that by this weekend several private hospitals are now charging Rs 510 for an FBC report. Doctors, while pointing out that several FBC reports are needed when screening dengue patients to check whether they are going into Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever, said that private hospitals should not be fleecing humble people in a time of national crisis. The dengue epidemic is not over and the private hospitals should support the country’s war against dengue to prevent deaths, a source said, a view echoed by numerous others.
Health Industry sources said that even when they charge Rs 250 for an FBC, they have a profit of at least Rs 75.