The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : From blood test to CT scan, its high

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Monday, Jul 07, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

From blood test to CT scan, its high

Anasuya Menon

Photo: K. Ananthan.

unavoidable: Diagnosis is not compromised even when costs rise. —

Though not directly, the rise in prices has had an impact on the healthcare sector. Apart from the medical bill, which includes the consultation fees and treatment procedure at the hospital, patients these days have to spend more on the investigation process which could range from a simple blood sample test to a CT scan.

U.K. Ananthapadmanabhan, President of Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, attributes it to the general rise in material costs. The equipment used in the diagnostic and intervention processes cost much more now as the companies manufacturing the equipment are producing them at a higher cost.

As most of the equipment run on power, the electricity charges too form a small though significant part of the bill. Corporate hospitals also need to spend huge amounts of money on finding and retaining technicians qualified to handle sophisticated machines. According to R. Dinesh Kumar, Laboratory Manager, Lister Metropolis, a private diagnostic centre in Coimbatore, there has not been much difference in the cost of lower-end tests such as glucose or urea. However, special investigations such as hormone and thyroid tests cost much more now. The prices of the reagents used in the higher-end medical tests have been increased and these reagents are sometimes imported too. Though the cost of routine medical tests remains more or less the same, the public may end up paying a different price at different laboratories. As the rates of diagnostic tests are not standardised in the country, the cost of the tests can vary from one laboratory to another.

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