The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Corporate hospitals rip off patients

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Monday, Jun 13, 2011
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Corporate hospitals rip off patients

Staff Reporter

One ends up paying Rs. 2,000 for a single visit as an outpatient

--PHOTO: G. RAMAKRISHNA

Costly affair:Patients are forced to cough up hefty amounts to get treated at corporate hospitals in the absence of a regulatory mechanism to control pricing of medical services.

HYDERABAD: Exorbitant consultation fee of doctors in the outpatient wings of corporate hospitals has become a source of outrage for patients in the State capital. Till recently, an outpatient visit to a doctor at corporate hospital was an affordable affair. Not anymore. These days the visit will set you back by Rs. 2,000. And if the hapless patients are unsuspecting, they might end up in the inpatient wards of the hospital with medical bills worth lakhs to clear. Two years ago, the consultation fee for a general practitioner at a corporate hospital used to hover between Rs. 100 and Rs. 150. Now it ranges between from Rs. 300 to Rs. 1,000. Add diagnostic tests, medicines, and cross-referrals to other doctors, patients are looking at an inflated bill of Rs. 2,000 and more. This is just for a day's visit.

Patients have to pay the consultation fee for subsequent visits.

Sorry, there are no concessions or exceptions. The general practitioner (GP) invariably again refers the patient to a specialist, whose consultation fee is more than that of the GP.

“Corporate hospitals have become revenue driven and this means collecting money from patients at every stage. Corporate hospitals do not employee permanent doctors on their rolls anymore. They simply rope in consultants because it is profitable and suits their revenue model,” says Dr. C. L. Venkat Rao, former IMA member and a senior physician.

Without any exception, all the corporate hospitals collect Rs. 350 from patients towards consultation fee at their OPD. Super speciality doctors charge anywhere from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000.

Apparently, there is an unofficial grading system. A doctor with only MBBS degree charges Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 towards consultation fee. The consultation fee of a specialist doctor (MD) ranges from Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 and fee for a super speciality doctor ranges from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000.

The hospital managements defend the exorbitant fee. “The only source of income for a physician is the consultation fee when compared to a surgeon,” they point out.

Demand-supply

Many senior doctors also point towards the demand and supply situation. “In a city like Hyderabad, there are only 10 to 15 qualified endocrinologists. Obviously they will charge a bomb from patients,” experts aver.

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