Manipur government has fixed charges for COVID-19 treatment by private hospitals in an order issued by the state Health department on Wednesday.
As per the order, maximum charges per day for general and isolation ward without oxygen support are respectively 3,000 and Rs 5,000.Â
The charge for the high dependency unit (HDU) will be Rs 7,000 and that of ICU without ventilator use is Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 for ICU with ventilator use.
The per-day charges included registration, bed, nursing and boarding, medical and drugs, oxygen and pathology and radiology test, the order stated.
The order added that high end medicine like Remdesivir can be charged separately at the rate of Rs 3,400 per dose (the current government of India prescribed rate).
PPE costs may be charged separately based on actual use and the cost should be sub-allocated among patients based on rounds taken by the doctors/nurses.
The state government fixed the charges with a view to ensure that reasonable rates are charged by private hospitals for COVID-19 treatment under relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act 2005.
COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation and declared as a notified disaster by the government of India.
Section 2 (a)(iii) of the Manipur Essential Service Maintenance Act, 2010, essential services is defined as “any services connected with the maintenance of public health and sanitation, including hospitals, dispensaries, primary health centres and primary health sub-centres.
At the same time, section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1997 provides the state government with power to take special measures and prescribe regulation as to dangerous epidemic disease.
NNN