Hyderabad: A common man afflicted with the dreaded COVID-19 disease has been left on a crossroads of life. He is baffled and has no clue where to go and what to do. He has been told that there is place for him a government hospital. And, he knows that he cannot go to a private hospital because the cost there is enormous.
There is no middle way for him. In way, though sadly, he has been left by the government and the circumstances to fend for himself. That also means that he could die and nobody would anything for him.
Ironically, Telangana State government, like the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre, has ended lockdown with complete knowledge that the pandemic is still active and in many states the number of deaths is touching alarming levels.
As of Wednesday (June 10) the state government has conceded that ther are 3920 Covid positive cases, with 148 deaths till date. The City’s only government hospital—Gandhi–where Covid patients were being admitted has reached its full capacity. Even severely suffering patients are being asked to go back home or to any other hospital.
State Health Minister Eatela Rajender has asked patients with very mild and pre-symptomatic Covid-19 to stay at home.
To ease the pressure on the limited facilities, the government of Telangana has designated 12 government and twenty-three private hospitals for corona virus treatment. They are: Care Hospitals; Continental Hospital; Asian Institute of Nephrology & Urology; Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital; Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences; Apollo Hospital, Thumbay Hospital; Star Hospital; Medicover Hospital; Yashoda Hospital; KIMS Hospital; Prathima Hospital; Mallareddy Narayana Hospital; Sai Sanjeevani Hospital; Aware Gleneagles Global Hospital; Sunshine Hospital; Rainbow Children’s Hospital and Omega Hospital.
When siast.com approached some of these hospitals it was found that they are refusing to provide COVID treatment. And the ones that are giving treatment are very expensive.
Given the gravity of the situation siasat.com carried out discreet investigation. During the probe, it was found that the given treatment would be so expensive that there is every possibility that all the savings of a patient would be drained out.
For instance, Apollo Hospitals, a multispecialty facility, is charging Rs. 70,000 for a visit and checkup. If the patient is asked to stay back for treatment which is carried out for at least two weeks it would cost him around Rs 12 lakh. Of course, there is no guarantee that the patient would come out healthy and hearty from the hospital.
Meanwhile, just the isolation wards can cost between Rs. 25,000 and Rs 40,000 per day. It was also revealed that two days of cost of the treatment in hospitals like Care Hospital, Star Hospital, and Gleneagles Global Hospital might cost between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh.
A patient who was recently at Care hospital, Banjara Hills, spoke to siasat.com on condition of anonymity said, “I went to Care Hospital as I had high temperature and cough. The hospital initially refused to take me in. On investigations, it turned to be negative on Covid. I was there in the hospital for three days and my bill came to Rs 1 lakh.”
So all those who have plans to opt private hospitals for COVID-19 testing and admission must ensure their bank account is full.
Nihad Amani