Telangana: Home care costs a bomb

Hyderabad: Increasing cases are coupled with less availability of beds in the hospitals resulting in the need of home services which ensures a hole in one's pocket.

ICU set up at home is not affordable in range for many. The set up includes a nurse, doctor and oxygen bed the average cost of the entire services. On average, per day set up of a basic ICU with a mini oxygen cylinder at home costs Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000, apart from the additional charges, including 30 per cent of referral charges by the hospital for their agents. As the services are rare and the hospitals are occupied, patients are helplessly accepting the bills given by the hospitals.

Explaining how the referral charges are impacting the bill of a patient, Dr P S Vijay Yender, public health specialist, Telangana Doctors' Federation said, "The original cost of a basic oxygen bed per day is Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 and when the services are done at home, the cost is more than doubled. Another Rs 20,000 is to be given to the referral agent by the hospitals when a general physician refers the case to the Covid hospital or the Covid concerned doctors. To fill both the pockets, the doctors and hospitals are charging above Rs 1 lakh per day."

For another instance, a 58-year-old patient named Vijay from Ramanthapur felt uneasy and went for a general check-up to a nearby hospital and after the doctor suggested a Covid checkup, the patient tested positive and she is referred to a Covid special doctor. For treatment and checkups cost her thousands of rupees. Expressing her disappointment, Vijaya said, "Even though the doctor was our family friend, we couldn't get any concession."

"There are many online medical consulting services available 24x7. Practo, mFine, Apollo 24/7, CallHealth, TataHealth etc., are the leading portals. Home ICU means home monitoring with nursing support. However, when patients need ventilation and other critical supports, home ICU care is not sufficient. The home ICU concept may be useful for end of life care, where families want only basic ICU support. There's no sufficient trained manpower to be deputed to homecare. Major limiting factor even in hospitals is the shortage of manpower and lack of beds and infrastructure, resulting in a high impact on the bills along with referral charges," said Dr Krishna Reddy Nallamalla, President, InOrder, Country Director, ACCESS Health International.