In a petition filed with the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has said that the state government’s move to issue price caps on COVID-19 treatment may end up having a detrimental impact on the healthcare system while also deeming them “harsh and oppressive”.
The state’s IMA branch has asked the price capping measures announced between April and August to be cancelled. The IMA also alleged the government of making a populist decision without scientific calculation involved. The state’s last notification on price capping said that it will be in place until November 30.
“Do they want the hospitals to work in the current situation or do they want them shut down?” the petition asked. The petition was filed on behalf of the IMA by senior advocate SU Kamdar and advocate Nahush Shah.
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The petition was submitted before the Division Bench consisting of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Milind Jadhav on Tuesday. The petitioners also stated that price capping on beds for those who are adequately covered with insurance is an “unnecessary burden” on the healthcare system and actually turns out profiting the insurance companies.
The petition goes on to say that the government has “grossly failed in its duty to ensure the survival of smaller healthcare providers and to strengthen it through legitimate policy decisions.”
Elaborating on how price capping is impacting the state’s healthcare system, IMA’s petitioners cited the Delhi Government model which has put a system in place to make sure the healthcare providers aren’t at the receiving end of the losses.
Maharashtra has capped the prices on 80 per cent of the beds in nursing homes or hospitals at ₹4,000 for a standard isolation ward bed, ₹7,500 for an ICU bed without a ventilator, and ₹9,000 for ICU beds with a ventilator. On the other hand, the prices for the same services in Delhi are ₹10,000, ₹15,000, and ₹18,000 respectively.
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State government pleader, Jyoti Chavan said that there are pending petitions on the same issue, which led the bench to ask for the State Advocate General to represent the state’s stance. Chavan further said that the government has filed an application that would bring all those petitions together while adding that one of the petitions had asked for free COVID-19 treatment for all.
The bench took a balanced view and recommended the state government to discuss the matter with the IMA to find a viable solution. While price capping affects all hospitals across the board, smaller institutions are the worst affected as they cannot sustain with reduced prices.
It is worth noting that the losses also trickle down to the doctors and other staff working at the hospitals who are currently experiencing pay cuts across the board.
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