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Govt has also capped treatment costs at private hospitals: Sudhakar
BENGALURU:
Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar reiterated on Tuesday that the state government would foot the bill of government-referred Covid patients who are admitted to private hospitals.
The minister was responding to members of the opposition in the assembly who accused the government of misappropriation of Covid-19 relief funds.
Answering JDS MLA Shivalingegowda’s question regarding exorbitant bills charged by private hospitals, he said there were 2 categories of coronavirus treatment. He explained that the government would bear the full cost of treatment if the patient is admitted to a government or private hospital after being registered and referred through BBMP. However, if patients are directly admitted to private hospitals without registering through BBMP post a Covid test, the treatment is at their own cost. Sudhakar added that the government had fixed a cap on treatment costs after it came to know that private hospitals were overcharging patients.
‘No wrong data by government’
Disagreeing with Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, who said the state government had provided wrong data on Covid-19, the minister said, “The government has been giving proper data since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis in the state. Before accusing the government, remember that you have run the government yourself. The coronavirus death rate in the state is 1.56% at present. It is to be noted that this is less than the national average.”
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