The time has indeed come for regulating the mushrooming growth of private hospitals and clinics in the state as some of these hospitals are fleecing the general public with sky-rocketing fees for quite some time.
As the pandemic waned, the state needs to have an overview of existing health infrastructure both public and private. In the public sector, another medical college had come up in Churachandpur over and above the two excellent medical institutions RIMS and JNIMS in the state now.
As the state grappled with the second wave of Covid 19 with lack of sufficient hospital beds and oxygen continually haunting us, we have discovered that all along we have been blind to the health infrastructure and the regulation of private hospitals.
A year after Covid 19 struck the country, we are still not sure how have we build or expanded our health care infrastructure to meet the challenges thrown up by it. We were indeed lucky to have two excellent medical institutions in the state with good doctors to the envy of other north eastern states, except Assam.
We had mentioned earlier that the state needs to take advantage of the pandemic to revamp our health infrastructure not only to meet the requirements of our own citizens but for making the state a hub of medical tourism to cater to neighbouring countries like Myanmar.
Private hospitals like Shija Hospitals have already made inroads in this sector and have thrown up possibilities of opening up the state’s healthcare infrastructure to other countries.
We even have a private Cancer hospital now.
Meanwhile, there has been a mushrooming growth of private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics in the state.
All the private hospitals and clinics in the state are to be registered under The Manipur Nursing Homes and Clinics Registration Act, 1992 and governed by it. The Directorate of Health Services is the regulatory authority.
While giving registration, an inspection team consisting various specialists is bound to inspect the clinic/hospital to see whether they conform to the standard norm.
One of the criteria is the various charges listed by the applying clinic/hospital for the services it will render. It includes charges of various investigations and hospital occupation days. Infrastructure, various available equipment and staffing pattern etc. are also to be inspected.
There is, no doubt, an urgent need to revisit the provisions of the Act afresh and examine whether the registered hospitals and clinics are conforming to the norms laid down in the Act.
One of the concerns is the heavy-handed advertisements by certain hospitals and clinics of successful treatment and surgeries, which often falls in the category of openly soliciting clients or patients. Another main concern is over-billing and steep fees.
As we said, it will be too much to expect the two public hospitals RIMS and JNIMS to cater to the needs of the general public and if there is a choice one goes to either Shija Hospitals or Raj Medicity for Covid 19 related problems. And these private hospitals charge exorbitant rates for hospitalisation and one often wonders whether the patients need the number of tests with exorbitant charges for the ailment they are being hospitalised.
Amid reports of overcharging by private hospitals for covid treatment last year, the government capped the treatment prices to prevent patients from harassment.
The treatment for isolation beds is currently priced between ₹8,000 and ₹10,000. For ICU units without ventilators, the charges are fixed between ₹13,000 and ₹15,000. For ICU with ventilators, a bed costs between ₹15,000 and ₹18,000. All charges include PPE costs. This needs to be regulated.
Now with the pandemic out of the way for some time, state health authorities need to have a relook at the functioning of these private hospitals. In recent times, the lure of ‘affordability’ has become unaffordable to many.
