K’taka to pay bills of corona patients referred by govt hospitals
Bengaluru: Taking strong exception to Opposition charges, Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Tuesday asserted that the state would pay the medical bills of Covid-19 patients referred to private hospitals after their registration at government ones.
Responding to the opposition members’ accusations during the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Assembly about misappropriation of Covid-19 relief funds, the Minister claimed that the state will bear the full treatment expenses of patients admitted to government or private hospitals once they were registered and referred through the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
In the same breath he, however, clarified that if a patient is directly admitted to a private hospital without registration through the BBMP post the corona tests, the patients or their kin will have to bear the cost of their treatment.
Sudhakar asserted that the state had capped Covid-19 treatment costs after it was found that certain private hospitals were overcharging the patients.
Disagreeing with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that the state’s BJP government was giving wrong data on the Covid-19 situation in Karnataka, the Minister maintained that proper data was furnished ever since the pandemic outbreak in the state.
“Before accusing the state government, remember that you also ran a government in Karnataka. The Covid death rate in the state is 1.56%, which is less than the national average,” Sudhakar remarked.
