Financial Times

Private hospitals: are they really affordable?

By Thushara Matthias

Charges by private hospitals for common tests vary widely, according to a survey done by the Sunday Times FT, and the hoped-for fall in prices following increased competition that came with the entry of new companies into the health care business does not appear to have happened.

Apollo Lanka Hospitals appears to be the most expensive of the private hospitals with charges for some services such as blood group tests and hospital charges for consultations being more than double that of most competitors.

Apollo Lanka, a subsidiary of the Indian chain that opened a few months ago, probably is the most spacious and has the best designed of the private hospital buildings.

Overall, the cheapest appears to be Durdans.

Demand for private hospitals has increased owing to the deteriorating service provided by government ones and a growing middle class willing to spend more money to avoid waiting in the queues common in state-owned hospitals.

Some private hospitals appear to charge fancy amounts for some services, according to the survey.

In certain private hospitals some of the specialist consultants charge an additional fee to read the reports.

Given below are the charges of some frequently used services of the main private hospitals who often claim that they are "affordable".