Bengaluru: The dengue outbreak may have given city hospitals an opportunity to fleece patients, with many charging anywhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 70,000 for around three days of care, but some Bengalureans have found a way to avoid the big bills and still get the treatment they need.
Meet Mr. Ravikiran Perne, 24, a techie, living in Basavanagudi in the city. Diagnosed with dengue in the first week of July and with a platelet count of around 35,000, he was offered a treatment package of Rs 40,000 by a private nursing home here. But instead of biting the bait, he hired an ambulance and rushed to a super-speciality hospital in Mangaluru , where he was treated for less than half the cost.
“I paid Rs 6,000 for the ambulance and Rs 13,000 as the hospital charge, which was less than the half the treatment cost in Bengaluru. Added to this, the quality of health care I received in Mangaluru was much better," he said, happy to have made the decision.
Mr Perne is not alone in avoiding city hospitals as many dengue patients hailing from Mangaluru, Udupi, Hassan, Karwar are rushing back to their hometowns for treatment to save on the cost involved.
Regretting that many hospitals and diagnostic centres in the city are making a killing from the dengue outbreak, doctors point out that unlike last year there is no cap on what they can charge patients.
“This year no notification has been issued by the BBMP to fix the charges," observed a doctor. An officer from the state health department, when contacted, promised to look into the problem of hospitals overcharging their patients.
"The BBMP has come out with several circulars on this. But if need be we will also issue a separate notification," he assured.
