Kerala HC suspends govt's order allowing hospitals to fix room charges for COVID patients

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday suspended the LDF government's order allowing private hospitals to fix room rates for treatment of COVID-19 patients. A division bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and Kauser Edappagath was hearing a review petition filed by the Kerala Private Hospitals Association against the direction to the state to fix COVID-19 treatment charges amid complaints of overcharging in private hospitals. While the state government had fixed rates including all charges such as boarding, doctor's fees, etc. on May 10, it issued a new order on June 16 permitted private hospitals to decide the rates "for other categories of beds like private rooms and suites".

The court took a very firm stance on the matter. It observed, "Now, by allowing the private hospitals to fix any rate for their rooms and suites, they have become empowered to go back to the earlier situation in charges, albeit, with a condition that such rates be displayed prominently. We are of the view that such a display would be of no avail to an ordinary person who approaches for COVID-19 treatment, since, at that time, he would really have no choice, his life being in peril".

During the hearing, the petitioner's counsel K Anand asserted that treatment for the pre-existing co-morbidities of a COVID-19 patient during hospitalization should be excluded from the price cap. Responding to this, government pleader S Kannan assured that all issues will be considered properly and sought a week's time to file a reply. The matter was adjourned to June 30 until which the suspension on the Government Order will continue.

COVID-19 situation in Kerala

At present, there are 99,835 active novel coronavirus cases in the state while 27,29,967 patients have recovered while 12445 deaths were reported. While a total of 1,01,50,912 persons have been inoculated in Kerala till now, 27,40,794 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too. In a heartening development on Monday, the state recorded a drop in active cases below the one lakh mark for the first time in more than two months, while the test positivity rate slipped below 10 per cent. 

While the lockdown has been extended, places of worship can open subject to a maximum of 15 persons at one time. Though banks will function on Tuesdays and Thursdays also, the public will not have access to the branches on these days. Meanwhile. full lockdown shall continue to be enforced on weekends amid the threat of the third wave of the novel coronavirus.