Private hospitals fleecing Kerala over RT-PCR tests

Kochi: The charging of exorbitant amount for RT-PCR tests by private hospitals in Kerala has invited strong public wrath. These hospitals are accused of slapping on public relatively higher charges for the tests as compared to other states.

High costs on tests during this pandemic time prompted the public to call upon the government to intervene to rationalise the rate and take action against the hospitals that levy excessive charges.

As the positive cases per day surge past 30,000 in the state under the second wave, the private establishments doing test continue to charge unreasonable rates putting the public in a fix.

A comparison with the state of Odisha shows that the government there fixed the cost of the test at 400 rupees, including GST, which makes it the lowest charging state in the country. In Maharashtra, the cost of RTPCR tests ranges from 500 to 800 rupees, in UP 500-700 rupees, in Delhi 800-1,200 rupees and 500 rupees in both Haryana and Telangana. In contrast, the cost stands at 1,700 rupees in private hospitals in Kerala, whereas the test is free of charge in government hospitals in the state, as also in states including Delhi.

The cost for the test in Kerala had been 4,500-5,000 in private hospitals, which was brought down to 1,500 after the state government intervened.

In the case of Odisha, the test cost was pushed down from 4,500 rupees to 2,200 rupees, then to 1,200 rupees and finally 400 rupees through multiple interventions through notifications issued by the government.

The RTPCR test cost, which stood at 1,500 rupees in Kerala, was increased to 1,700 rupees after a February 8th judgement of the Kerala High Court. Now the cost for the RTPCR kit is reduced to a mere 46 rupees from 1,200 rupees. The actual cost of the test is estimated at 200 rupees now, including the RNA extraction charge. That taken into account, the fee charged by private hospitals is quite unreasonable.

As the daily testing rate has increased now, the Kerala Medical Services Corporation assigned private mobile testing labs for the task. Sandor Medicaids Pvt. Ltd, a private lab, performed tests for Rs 448.2 per test which proves that private establishments could do the testing at a rate of 450 rupees with a reasonable profit for themselves.

Now that Covid has turned into a national health emergency, the time has come for the state government to urgently step in to amend the RTPCR prices for which it should challenge the court order, supported by facts to be placed before the court, rather than turning a blind eye towards these private hospitals' extortion.