There is a need to control the medical bills charged by private hospitals, Naresh Trehan, Chairman and Managing Director of Medanta, said on Saturday.
The Central and state governments need to keep an eye on what the private hospitals charge. If not, rates must be fixed for treatment and this should be widely publicized so that people know the charges, he said.
“Yes, there is a section of private hospitals which charged hefty bills from the patients leading to profiteering during the pandemic. This has to be condemned as people were battling for life,” he told a webinar on ‘Health of India’ series. He said money is needed to run the hospitals but this should not lead to profiteering. Governments should step in and fix the rates for each treatment based on the category of hospitals to help patients get treated based on their financial status.
He said after intervention by the Centre during Covid-19, the central and state governments fixed rates for each service rendered in private hospitals across the country. In many cases, this was violated.Health services in rural areas should be strengthened by taking the help of technologies and putting them to optimum use, he added.This will help reduce the pressure in urban hospitals. Only critical cases can be referred to the major hospitals, he said.