BMC informs HC about capping in private hospitals

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed the Bombay High Court that it had sent a notice to all private hospitals and care centres regarding the capping of beds and consulting charges for general wards at Rs 3,900 per day with ICU and ventilator charges at 9,750 per day.

The BMC further informed that court that the medical hospitals were allowed to charge on medicines, pathology and other consumer bills. This hearing took place as a result of public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist Sarika Singh who had earlier said that the private hospitals were charging exorbitantly for the treatment of coronavirus, furthermore, refusing to even take patients in.

In recent developments, in the wake of the coronavirus in Maharashtra, the number of COVID-19 cases continue to increase rapidly with almost all intensive care unit (ICU) beds being occupied, as per the data released by the BMC. The municipal and state-run hospitals accounted for 645 ICU beds while the number of patients requiring critical care was clearly five times over. As of Wednesday, 99 per cent of these ICU beds under BMC were already inhabited.

Meanwhile, as many as 116 police personnel have tested positive for the coronavirus in the state of Maharashtra. At least 25 policemen have succumbed to death. The municipal corporation of greater Mumbai had earlier taken over 80 per cent of the beds in private hospitals in the Mumbai metropolitan region. This added 645 more beds for coronavirus patients, taking the total ICU beds to 1,289.

The BMC helpline which is supposed to be a one-stop centre for information related to COVID-19 care which also includes information on the availability of hospital beds. Once a call is made to the number, the administrative department is expected to take down the details, give callers a coupon and get back to them with information about the availability of hospital beds. However, the helpline executives have a hard time collecting real-time data about hospitals because the information is updated only twice a day.