The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : What they say...

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Monday, Jun 13, 2011
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

What they say...

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: The increase in cost of out-patient treatment is adversely affecting many in and around the city. With family doctors and one-man clinics going extinct, corporate hospitals have become the only resort to many.

“There is a drastic increase in the cost of treatment with technology and methods of treatment improving by the day. Doctors and specialists suggest new tests that we cannot understand and therefore have no choice but to pay up. The shortage of physicians and specialists also contributes to the inflated costs. But coming from Pune, I think medical facilities in Hyderabad are better than in most other places,” said

Kumar,

Businessman

“All hospitals are becoming commercialised by the day. At every stage of treatment they are looking at making profits. Despite concessions they get from the government on several drugs, they are sold to us only at MRP. No corporate hospital today thinks on humanitarian grounds. Poor patients with severe ailments are not given any consideration”

Balakrishna,

Freelance journalist

“We have to spend a minimum of Rs.1,000 towards consultation charges to the doctor every month. Commercial hospitals are making life very difficult for people from rural areas who are asked to come to city for advanced treatment. Ironically, while most poor people don't have Arogyasri cards, several well-to-do in the city have them. Many sell their lands in their villages to be able to afford better healthcare facilities.”

Bindu,

Medical representative

“Middle class families are barely able to afford the treatment costs at corporate hospitals. Let alone treatment, merely consulting the doctor has become so expensive. I pay Rs. 400 every time I have to consult my specialist and small procedures cost nothing less than Rs. 5,000. Since there is no alternative, we have to pay through the nose,”

Kusuma Kumari,

School teacher

“Cost of treatment in the city is more expensive than in districts.

The test that cost Rs. 300 in Karimnagar cost Rs. 500. Consultation and emergency charges are exorbitant.

Treatment for fractures or even putting plaster on broken bones has become very expensive. Doctors charge as per their whims and fancies. But, we come here in hope of better treatment,”

Madhu,

Banker

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Andhra Pradesh