In a major relief to Mucormycosis (Black Fungus) and suspected Mucormycosis patients undergoing treatment at private hospitals in the State, the Maharashtra Government on Friday imposed a limit on treatment and surgery costs to be recovered from all those patients not patients not covered by any health insurance or bilateral agreements between the hospital and corporate groups and all those who have exhausted their health insurance covers.
Cracking the whip hospitals charging exorbitant rates for Mucormycosis and suspected Mucormycosis patients, the Maharashtra Government made it mandatory for hospitals, nursing homes and clinics to increase their bed capacity as per the norms prescribed under the Maharashtra Nursing Home Amendment Act 2006 to accommodate maximum number of patients and not to charge rates more than what has been prescribed by it through its notification dated June 3, 2021.
The State Government also made it clear to the private healthcare providers that “there shall be no difference in the quality of treatment being meted out to patients treated against the same rates prescribed under its notification and also the insured patients. “Items/services which are not part of GIPSA-PPN or TPA package rates, shol not be charged more than 10 per cent mark on net procurement cost incurred,” the notification said.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday approved a proposal by the Health Ministry fixing the charges to be levied by all private hospitals, till July 31.
Under the notification, the State Government has fixed graded per day rates of `4,000, `3,000 and `2,400 for A, B and C-class cities respectively for isolation, `7500, `5,500 and `4,500 respectively as per day ICU Isolation charges without ventilator for A, B and C-class citiesy and `9,000, `6,700 and `5,400 per day respectively as ICU Isolation with ventilator charges for A, B and C-class cities respectively.
The State Government also made it mandatory for private healthcare providers to display prominently the rateds applicable for Mucormycosis and suspected Mucormycosis patients.
In a state with more than 58 lakh Covid-19 cases since the break-out of the pandemic in March 2020, there has been a sudden increase Mucormycosis cases among in post-COVID and COVID 19 patients. With Mucormycosis having been declared a notified disease under the Epidemic Diseases, 1897, Disaster Management Act 2005 and other laws, there are 5000 such cases in the state.
The cap on treatment and surgical charges comes a fortnight after the Maharashtra government issued an order to provide free treatment, medicines, beds, etc, to Mucormycosis patients under the Mahatma Jyotiba Jan Arogya Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, at 130 pre-determined hospitals besides empaneling another 1000 hospitals.
The state government has also fixed the charges for 28 types of surgical procedures required for Mucormycosis treatment which will be up to Rs.100,000, Rs.75,000 and Rs.60,000 in “A”, “B” and “C” class cities respectively and no hospitals can charge higher than the prescribed rates.