Hyderabad hospitals see a dip in patients

Hyderabad: Some private hospitals accepted cash payments from patients to settle their in-patient bills on Wednesday and out-patient departments were declared free for the day.

But despite being free, the number of walkins was not as expected as many people were not sure how to pay for the medical services or the medicines at the hospitals.

All services were open for those who paid via cash cards, or had legal currency notes. Some hospitals allowed patients to pay in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes but demanded some form of identity proof.

Mr C. Venkat Reddy, executive director of a private hospital, said, “We are only doing check-ups at the out-patient department but the diagnosis has been kept on hold. Only emergency cases are being taken up.” Diagnostic centres in hospitals and independent units across the city saw only 20 per cent walk-ins on Wednesday.

A senior doctor said, “This was a major shock for people so, only patients suffering from acute distress reported to the hospitals. Elective surgeries have been completely given a miss and new admissions of in-patients have also been postponed.”