Centre asks states to engage with pvt sector to increase healthcare infrastructure

The Centre has asked states to engage with the private sector for augmenting health care infrastructure and provisioning of critical care at reasonable rates. The Health Ministry said, some states have already taken initiatives in this regard. They have reached an agreement with the private sector on reasonable rates and arrangements to provide critical care for in-patient admissions. The Ministry said, there have been several reports indicating an emerging shortage of health care infrastructure including hospitals with ICU beds, ventilators, oxygen supported beds for management of COVID-19 patients. There have also been reports of overcharging by health care providers for COVID-19 treatment. It said, Pradhanmantri Jan Aarogya Yojana and CGHS package rates are already available with the states.

The Ministry said, in order to ensure that patients receive prompt, good quality and care at reasonable rates, it has been suggested to have consultations with the local private health care providers and arrive at reasonable rates. It has been suggested that the rates, once fixed, must be widely publicized so that both the patients and service providers are fully aware and capacities are used optimally. States have also been asked to proactively engage with the private sector health providers and consider pooling in public and private health care facilities, as this will help in providing prompt, good quality and reasonable health care to COVID-19 patients.