Making sick pay for fiscal crisis?
From Chander Parkash
Tribune News Service

BATHINDA, Dec 9 — The Punjab Government is apparently making the sick pay for its fiscal troubles.

In an unannounced move, the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) has implemented the new rate list in which the charges for clinical and other medical tests have been almost doubled.

This decision of the SAD-BJP government, which earlier had been promising not to implement the rate list prepared during the previous Congress regime, has created resentment among patients, especially the poor ones.

Sources said that about two days ago, hospital authorities were charging half the rates for various clinical and medical tests and surgical operations than those prescribed in the list prepared during the previous Congress government. Now the hospital authorities had started charging full rate, as per the list.

On the other hand, the staff of the Health Department have not been paid their salaries for November, a senior official of the department claimed.

With the ‘unannounced’ implementation of higher charges for admission, blood tests, major and minor operations, ECG, CT scan and delivery have been doubled.

Major Singh, a patient, said, “I came here for the treatment of my gall bladder stone but the fee being charged by the hospital now has become unaffordable for me as I belong to a poor family.”

A number of patients told TNS that hospital authorities demanded the yellow card before giving them treatment free of cost. They said that as it was difficult to get a yellow card from the Punjab Government, they were not able to get free treatment from civil hospitals despite their poor economic conditions.

Dr R.N. Maheshwary, Deputy Medical Commissioner of the local Civil Hospital, said some officials were charging uniformly from all patients falling in different categories.

He added that as per instructions of the authorities, concerned the local officials had been asked to treat free of cost all patients having the yellow card, charge 50 per cent of the rates mentioned on the list from those patients whose income was between Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 per month and charge the full rates from the patients whose income was above Rs 2000 per month.

He denied that the charges had been doubled in a secret manner.