The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) on Saturday rolled back the decision to increase advance payment, besides taking back the decision to hike other hospital charges after being criticised for the decision from all quarters.
Sources said Dr Sunil Kumar Singh, a member of the body of governors, had shot off a letter against this decision to health minister Mangal Pandey while Jan Adhikar Party Loktantrik’s national general secretary Ejaz Ahmad had called for a campaign against the decision on Saturday.
The hospital had increased the charges by up to 5 per cent on October 16.
According to sources, while earlier one had to pay Rs 10,000 as advance for admission into the hospital’s ICU, the rate is now Rs 50,000. Also, while the per-day bed charge was Rs 1,100, it was raised to Rs 5,000 under a revised rate list issued by the administration.
Similarly, the hospital had hiked advance payment for admission into high-dependency unit of the emergency wing from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 and advanced payment for admission into the red zone (for critical patients) was up from Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000.
Sources said advance payment is taken by the hospital in all cases of admission so that the patient’s various hospital fees can be managed for the first few days.
If the total hospital bill is above the paid advance, the rest has to be deposited by the patient’s attendants, but if it is less, the balance has to be returned to the attendants.
Hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Manish Mandal said the decision to raise hospital charges was rolled back after the IGIMS director held a meeting with principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar, on Saturday. “The hospital’s price fixation committee had recommended the hike, as other hospitals, like Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, were charging much more. Private hospitals charge between Rs 15,000 to Rs 35,000 for ICU admission,” Kumar said.