According to a report from The Times of India on the 12th, many people in India are currently angry because of the high cost of treatment for new coronary pneumonia. In order to calm this dissatisfaction, many states in India have adopted price-limiting methods for treatment of new coronary pneumonia to alleviate conflicts, but in fact The effect of this approach is very limited.
Using official data to compare treatment costs and household monthly expenditures, even if the price limit method is adopted, the 10-day treatment cost for new coronary pneumonia is the sum of the expenditures of most families for several months.
If one person in the family suffers from new coronary pneumonia, 80% of the family will feel that medical expenses make them feel worried.
According to the statistics of the monthly expenditure of each household by the National Bureau of Statistics of India from 2017 to 2018, about 80% of the population in New Delhi has a monthly expenditure of about 5,000 rupees (about 460 yuan), while the monthly expenditure of a family of five is 25,000 rupees ( Approximately 2299 yuan).
If a patient enters a non-designated hospital for treatment of new coronary pneumonia, even the cheapest treatment fee for ten days will cost 80,000 rupees (about 7,356 yuan), which is equivalent to spending more than three months of most people's expenditures on the treatment of new coronary pneumonia .
If the patient’s condition is severe and the intensive care unit also uses a ventilator, the medical expenses will reach hundreds of thousands of rupees (about tens of thousands of RMB), and the treatment time will reach two or three weeks or even longer.
In the public hospitals in India, hospitalization is free, but the patients need to take care of themselves for medication and consumables.
When there is no epidemic, the number of patients admitted by government hospitals is only 42% of the total number of patients.
However, it is generally believed that government hospital facilities are relatively old, and private hospitals will be chosen for medical treatment during the epidemic.
In many states such as Gujarat, West Bengal, and Kerala, the price-limiting measures for medical expenses only apply to patients referred by government hospitals or patients covered by government healthcare plans, and the basic medical expenses are borne by the government.
Usually only those who are related can transfer from government hospitals to private hospitals, and most people do not get such benefits.
In Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana, the price limit only applies to patients who go to private hospitals.
However, private hospitals also have some ways to evade the price ceiling. For example, when a patient needs to treat other complications before the diagnosis is positive or after turning negative, the hospital is not restricted by the price limit for the treatment of new coronary pneumonia.
In fact, in many states and even New Delhi, although people complain about the high cost of new crown treatment, there is no mechanism to ensure that price-limiting measures are implemented.
One of the important goals of the United Nations to ensure sustainable development is to prevent excessive medical expenses from causing ordinary families to become poor due to illness. The United Nations standard believes that it is very dangerous if medical expenses account for more than 10% to 25% of the total annual household expenditure. In all states in India, even if you lie on an isolation bed in a hospital with a price limit for ten days, medical expenses will exceed 25% of the annual expenditure for 80% of families. In areas with high monthly expenditures such as New Delhi, Kerala and Punjab, the medical expenses of patients with severe COVID-19 account for 50% to 80% of the family’s annual expenditure, while in many other states the same treatment expenses may cost The amount of expenditure for a family for one or two years. (Headquarters reporter Wang Jianbing)