Private doctors seek higher rates for COVID-19 treatment under Aarogyasri

Vijayawada: Doctors have urged the Andhra Pradesh state government to revise the Covid-19 treatment rates under the YSR Aarogyasri scheme in their hospitals as they remained highly unviable for them.

Indian Medical Association’s Academy of Medical Specialists national chairman Dr D. Sreehari Rao said, “We urge the state government to revise Covid-19 treatment rates upwards under Aarogyasri scheme as the present rates are not viable given the high wages to be paid to the doctors and health personnel for risking their lives to treat the patients and also for maintenance costs. We are sure the move will help get more beds into usage for the patients. We also appeal to the government to extend fire NOC for six more months to the hospitals as their applications for renewal are pending with fire authorities for a long time.”

Andhra Pradesh has nearly 2,000 private hospitals. Of them, 600-700 hospitals have more than 50 beds each covered under the Dr YSR Aarogyasri scheme.

There are two categories of private hospitals in the state — those which are already covered under the scheme and the ones which got temporary permission to treat patients for the Covid-19 under the scheme.

For both the categories, the state government had fixed rates. While the patients would be treated for Covid free of cost — reimbursed later by the government — at the empaneled hospitals, non-empaneled hospitals would charges as fixed by the government from the patients.

Under the non-critical Covid-19 category, treatment rate fixed per day is Rs 3,250. Under critical care category, ICU without ventilator and without NIV to cost Rs 5,480, ICU with NIV to cost Rs 5,980, ICU with ventilator to cost Rs 9,580, SEPSIS without ventilator to cost Rs 6,280, SEPSIS with ventilator to cost Rs 10,380 and septic shock/MODS with ventilator to cost Rs 10,380.

The state government has recently reimbursed Rs 309 crore to the private hospitals for providing the Covid-19 treatment from April 1, 2020, to April 23, 2021 to benefit over one lakh patients in the state.

As AP is having 1.14 lakh Coronavirus active cases as on Thursday and registering daily surge of more than 10,000 cases, there is a huge demand for beds, medical oxygen and mainly remdesivir injections from the patients.

Though the state government claimed that they are having an adequate number of  essentials,  there is certainly a shortage in urban centres, forcing patients to look for the private hospitals.

Though some private hospitals are providing Covid-19 treatment under Aarogyasri scheme, many of them are avoiding the scheme and asking the patients to pay from their pocket. They are also asking the patients to arrange remdesivir injections and medical oxygen. If the patients express inability to arrange them, they are collecting hefty charges claiming that they are mobilising them from the black market.

A private hospital in Guntur had asked the relatives of a Covid-19 patient to get a set of vials of remdesivir or to pay Rs 30,000 per each veil so that they could arrange them. With no possibility of purchasing remdesivir across the counter as it has to be procured directly from the manufacturers or to be supplied by the state government, some private hospitals are charging exorbitant prices.