Goa to revise home isolation protocol, fees for Coronavirus treatment

Panaji: Goa is in the process of updating its home isolation protocol, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said, adding that the state government is also in the process of further revising the capping of fees for treatment of Covid-19 patients in private hospitals.

"We are in the process of further improving our home isolation protocol. It will be announced by the Chief Minister soon," Rane said, after a review meeting at the Chief Minister's official residence in Panaji on Tuesday.

Goa currently has around 5,667 active Covid-19 cases, from which a large number of patients have opted for treatment in home isolation. Rane also said that the government was in dialogue with the private healthcare players, in order to further revise the capping of rates for treatment of Covid-19 patients in private hospitals.

"We are in the process of revising the rates," Rane said, adding that despite the revision and the capping of prices, patient-to-patient costs may still vary with the nature of treatment given to the Covid-19 patients.

Last week, the Goa government had capped the prices for Covid-19 treatment in private hospitals with patients availing treatment in a general ward having to pay 12,000 per day, treatment in twin-shared rooms was capped at Rs 15,000 and while fees for admission of a Covid-19 patient in a private room was set at Rs 25,000 per day. Price for utilising the ICU facilities had been capped at Rs 25,000 per day.

The capped pricing, however, came under severe criticism from the Opposition as well as on social media, on which users said that the capped prices were too steep for the average wage earner in Goa.