Andhra Pradesh: Six private hospitals booked for 'irregularities' in COVID-19 treatment

Amid the unprecedented second wave of the coronavirus across the country, the Andhra Pradesh Vigilance and Enforcement Director General K.V Rajendranath Reddy on Thursday that the state police have filed cases against six private hospitals for irregularities in COVID-19 treatment. 

Joint teams of Vigilance and Enforcement, Drug Control, and Medical and Health departments have held raids on 30 hospitals in the past two days, informed Reddy. He also informed that they identified irregularities like treating COVID patients without permission, collecting charges much higher than the government fixed prices, and not providing treatment under Arogyasri Scheme in six hospitals.

Vigilance officials have registered complaints in the respective local police stations, based on which, cases were registered against the hospitals under provisions of sections 188, 420, 269 of IPC, and section 51(a) of the disaster management act. According to EDG Reddy, two private hospitals in Piduguralla town of Guntur district were booked for charging exorbitant fees.

Andhra Pradesh COVID cases 

For the third day in a row, Andhra Pradesh reported more than 20,000 cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Thursday, pushing the gross to 12,28,186. As many as 1,10,147 tests turned out 21,954 fresh positives in 24 hours, the latest bulletin said.

Also, 10,141 patients had recovered while 72 more succumbed in a day, it said.  The total recoveries now stood at 10,37,411 and toll 8,446. The active caseload was 1,82,329. After a total of 1.70 crore tests, the overall infection positivity rate in the state climbed to 7.15 per cent, slightly more than the national average of 7.05 per cent.

The overall recovery rate slid to 85.16 per cent while the mortality rate remained stable at 0.69 per cent. Over 25,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals across the state were on oxygen and ventilator support while about 1.25 lakh were in home isolation, as per government data.

(With Agency Inputs)