Govt sets up panel to recommend reasonable rates of COVID-19 treatments

SHILLONG, JUN 18: The state government on Friday constituted a consultative committee to examine and recommend the reasonable rates of COVID-19 treatments.

The 10-member committee will be headed by the Director of Health Services (MI) Dr Aman War.

“We have decided to notify the consultative committee to address the problems faced by the people due to the exorbitant cost of treatment for COVID-19 in private hospitals,” Health Minister Alexander Laloo Hek told reporters after a review meeting.

He said the committee has been asked to come up with solutions to address the problems faced by citizens. “We have given the committee to complete the exercise within one week,” Hek added.

A notification issued by Principal Secretary in-charge of Health Sampath Kumar said the committee was constituted in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to ensure that private hospitals in the state cater to COVID-19 patients at fixed and inexpensive rates.

It said the committee will examine the current rates of COVID-19 treatment in different hospitals. It will also assess how the MHIS packages are being utilized by SECC (BPL) beneficiaries and other MHIS beneficiaries.

The committee will come up with recommendation on the reasonable cost of providing quality medical care to the COVID-19 patients who are admitted in the private hospitals taking into consideration the actual costs incurred in providing care service and also the additional investments created by the hospitals to expand the bed capacity (oxygen service, ICUs, ventilators) to meet the surge capacity during the pandemic, the notification said.

By Our Reporter