he second wave of Covid is causing a lot of damage to the country. As a result, the hospitals are receiving an inflow of Covid patients. Getting treatment has turned out as a costly affair.
At the time when people were complaining of private hospitals charging a bomb as hospital charges, the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued key directives to the state government.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court directed the government to bring the private hospitals in the state that are offering Covid-19 services under the purview of the government.
Following this, the state government is likely to issue Government Order to take over the private hospitals so that the treatment costs can be capped and there will be transparency on Covid treatment, patients getting admitted to the hospitals, and the charge collected by the hospitals.
It is said that several hospitals in the state don’t have the required permissions to treat the patients. The names of hospitals treating patients without permissions surface, whenever concerned officials conduct raids.
Once the government takes over the private hospitals in the state, then patients don’t have to bother much about the treatment costs. Other issues like oxygen supply and drug supply can also be sorted out.
Andhra Pradesh is not the first state to bring private hospitals under the purview of the government. Earlier, the respective governments of Goa, Maharashtra have followed the module.