Display price card and charge as per MRP: T Govt to Pvt hospitals

Hyderabad: Following allegations of private hospitals charging exorbitant rates from COVID-19 patients, the Telangana government, on 12 August, instructed all private hospitals in the state to display its rates at prominent places inside their premises.

All private hospitals have also been instructed to display their rack rates as on 31 December 2019. High-end drugs and personal protection equipment must be sold at MRP and the maximum retail price of these drugs and PPEs must be displayed in prominent places in the hospital, the government said. It also directed hospitals to provide itemised bills to the patients before they are discharged.

The state department of health and family welfare has received several complaints of private hospitals charging high rates and not providing detailed bills to the patients.

Earlier, the state had issued an order fixing a cap on fees chargeable by private hospitals for COVID-19 treatment. The director of public health, in the order, had said, “It is felt that there is need to introduce greater transparency in the rates that can be charged by private hospitals so that people are made aware of the same and they are in a position to verify the correctness of the bill raised by private hospitals.”

The government also said that it has received complaints that some private hospitals are not following the ceiling fixed by the government. The prices fixed by the state will come into force with immediate effect and non-compliance will attract action, the state has said.