On Wednesday, the Supreme Court directed the Central Government to identify a list of private hospitals that can treat COVID-19 patients for free or at a nominal cost.
Hearing the issue via video-conferencing, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S. A. Bobde stated that there are private hospitals that have been given government land either free of cost or at minimum rates; therefore they should treat coronavirus-infected patients for free or at minimal costs.
An application in a plea filed by a lawyer, Sachin Jain, has sought a direction from the apex court for regulating the cost of treatment of COVID-19 at private/corporate hospitals across the country.
“These charitable hospitals should treat patients for free,” the bench said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said that this being a policy issue, the government will take a decision on the matter. He would file a response regarding the same.
Citing news reports about the alleged inflated billing by private hospitals, Jain, in his petition, stated, “When the nation is fighting a battle against the pandemic, all such private hospitals which are running on public land (allotted at concessional rates) or are running under the category of “charitable institutions” should be called upon to provide the hospitalisation and treatment to the COVID-19 patients pro-bono publico/non-profit basis”.
It further went on to say that on a fixed cost basis, tariffs of other private hospitals should also be regulated by the government.
The plaintiff has also alleged, “The issue requires an urgent consideration of this court as many private hospitals are commercially exploiting the patients suffering from COVID-19 to make a fortune out of their miseries in the hour of national crisis.”
The court has ordered the government to respond to the petition within a week.