Kerala cites financial crisis for refusing free post-COVID treatment for all
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Kochi: The Kerala State has cited the state's financial crisis as grounds to refuse free post-COVID treatment for all categories of people before the Kerala High Court in response to a review petition filed by the Kerala Private Hospitals Association.
The plea questioned the state government fixing charges for treatment of coronavirus in private hospitals.
Hearing the matter, the court posed a question to know the basis of determining who are eligible to avail an open-ended free treatment when deaths even after 30 days of a person turning negative for coronavirus is treated as a COVID-19 death.
The court asked then why can't, by the same rationale, treatment for post-COVID complications be reckoned as part of coronavirus care.
A bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and Dr Kauser Edappagath had asked the government to clarify why it fixed treatment charges for post-COVID complications for those Above the Poverty Line (APL). In its response, the state government — represented by senior government pleader S Kannan — told the bench on Wednesday that it has taken a policy decision "to provide COVID testing, treatment and post COVID-19 complication treatment free of cost to BPL, KBF beneficiaries and KASP beneficiaries".
It also said that "to ensure that private hospitals are not billing exorbitant rates from patients, the upper limit of the treatment package has been fixed. The government has also taken steps to ensure that post-COVID treatment is available at a reasonable cost at government hospitals to APL patients."
"The rate of Rs 750 per day is for pay wards in government hospitals. For a bed, in the general ward, only Rs 10 is levied from patients as a stoppage charge. Therefore, it is the choice of the patient whether to go and avail treatment in a private hospital or in a government hospital's pay ward or general ward," it said.
The state government also said security and managerial staff will not come under the purview of the Kerala Health Care Persons and Health Care Services Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act of 2012. This came in response to the High Court's observation that the state has to consider including security and managerial staff in the ambit of the Act as they are the first ones exposed when anyone attacks a hospital.
The court was hearing a review petition filed by the Kerala Private Hospitals Association in relation to the COVID-19 treatment charges fixed by the state for treatment of coronavirus in private hospitals. As part of the same matter, the court had also taken up the issue of assaults on doctors and other healthcare professionals in hospitals.