GUWAHATI: From today onwards COVID patients under treatment in paying cabins of government hospitals in Assam will be changed for cabin rent as per a few decisions taken by the state government to cut down on steeping expenditure for providing free treatment to COVID patients in the state.
“With our limited resources it is becoming increasingly expensive to provide free treatment to ever increasing number of COVID patients in the state and hence we have taken a few decisions for now to cut down on expenditure,” Heath Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The decisions as mentioned by him are:
- From today onwards COVID patients have to pay paying cabin rent which was earlier borne by the state government.
- State government will no longer provide free vehicle to drop cured CVID patients home from COVID care centre unless it is an inter-district movement.
- RT-PCR test report on demand will be made available with 24 hours in government hospitals on payment of Rs 2200 per test.
- Private nursing homes can procure plasma kit at Rs 6000 per kit from government hospitals
The Health Minister further said that those who can afford should send home food to their family members undergoing treatment in COVID care centres. However, he said government would continue to provide food to patients from BPL category.