Mumbai: Private hospitals blame increase in expenses & losses as patients worry over inflated bills

As the number of coronavirus in Mumbai continue to rise, privates hospitals in the city continue to charge hefty bills to patients despite efforts made by the state government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation issuing an order to find a middle ground by capping fees and reserving beds for patients.

The private hospitals claim that they have been “forced to increase charges” due to increasing expenses and losses, patients being admitted for long-term saying they are unable to pay such hefty bills.

Some of the private hospitals have now also started charging patients for the disposal of the bio-medical waste that has only increased the burden of the patients. 

Private hospitals, meanwhile, said they were “helpless”. Due to the losses suffered in the month of March and April which was also lockdown period the hospitals had nearly zero admissions. Bhatia hospital director, Dr RB Dastur, said the Covid-19 pandemic had also increased the cost of administration.

Mumbai has 3,180 beds in 33 private hospitals that are reserved by the government for Covid-19 and non-Covid patients. Of these 580 are ICUs. Despite a price cap introduced by the state government in May, the common man struggles to afford private healthcare.