SHILLONG, Aug 20: A day after CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing flagged the issue of alleged exorbitant charging by private hospitals for COVID-19 treatment, the latter have now rationalised the move, asserting that procuring medical oxygen cylinders and recruiting additional staffers for tackling the pandemic situation are few of the reasons that have attributed to the decision of upping the treatment cost.
A day ago, Kharshiing had warned of compelling the aggrieved citizens to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Meghalaya High Court against the private hospitals and the state government if the latter failed to address the issue of alleged fleecing by private hospitals for COVID-19 treatment.
Responding to the allegations, administrator of Supercare Hospital, Damien Marwein, said that the Government of Meghalaya has been, time and again, calling meetings while the hospitals concerned have assured quality care.
“Keeping in mind the rates we have, we are not business-minded people as I speak on behalf the Supercare Hospital,” Marwein said.
Asserting that treatment for COVID-19 also requires surgical intervention, he said that most of the high bills are a result of cost of medical oxygen cylinders.
Informing that there was, during the beginning of second COVID-19 wave, dearth of Remdesivir injections and the cost of the same was too expensive, Marwein said, “Now since the injections are available, the prices have also gone down.”
He said that during the first wave, everything — from PPE kits to three-ply masks — was expensive and the hospital was charging only the maximum retail price (MRP).
Informing that the hospital is making all-out efforts to bring down the expenditures for patients, Marwein maintained that a doctor has to use one PPE kit for one patient.
“We, of course, cannot operate like a charity or a government hospital because we have operational cost and we had to double our staff because our employees, who would work for seven days, would have to subsequently be under quarantine for next 14 days,” he lamented, maintaining that they have complied with the caps on prices for COVID-19 treatment as fixed by the state government.
Echoing similar sentiment, owner of Woodland Hospital, Dr W Kharshiing, recalled how two months ago there was a sky-high demand of medical oxygen cylinders and how the hospital authorities were struggling to secure the same.
He also said that the hospital, which was reeling under manpower shortage during the pandemic situation, had to recruit additional staff.
“We recruited additional nurses, ward boys, etc. We also provided them meal and even had to hire a house for them for quarantine protocols. All these expenditures were extra, so we had to somehow compensate, which I don’t think it is abnormal, especially when compared to other cities,” Dr Kharshiing said.