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Karnataka government has revised the private hospitals’ package rates for Covid-19 treatment.
The state government has revised the rates after private hospitals made a representation to the chief minister at a meeting held on May 1 and requested enhancing the package rates of treatment, taking into account the increasing costs in recruiting manpower and consumables costs.
The notification on Thursday, issued and signed by the state chief secretary P Ravi Kumar, said, “The private hospitals’ representation has been considered in-depth by the director of health and family welfare and the technical committee.”
The following package rates inclusive of PPE and other consumables shall apply for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. The package rates for Covid-19 patients per day referred by the public health authorities from the date of issue of this notification shall be as follows: General Ward ₹5,200, HDU ₹8,000, Isolation ICU without ventilator ₹9,750 and Isolation ICU with ventilator ₹11,500.
Oxygen shortage
Due to the oxygen shortage at government-run KC General Hospital in Bengaluru, a major disaster was averted on Wednesday night due to alert Dr Renuka Prasad, who monitored the oxygen supply vertical in the hospital.
The oxygen supply that was supposed to come from a private company from Bellary (Praxair) did not arrive.
The hospital has an oxygen storage tank of 6 tonnes capacity, and by late on Wednesday night, barely 0.5 tonnes was remaining. About 200 patients are under treatment in oxygenated beds.
After coming to know of the shortage, Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwathanarayan sprung into action after assessing the gravity of the situation and identified another private company located in Dabaspete on the Bengaluru-Pune National Highway (NH 48), where the oxygen was available. He ordered the company to provide 20 jumbo cylinders. The company responded positively and agreed to send oxygen in a tanker to the hospital.
The minister alerted the traffic police to ensure zero traffic on the way from Dabaspete to the hospital. As a result, the oxygen tank was refilled to 5.5 tonnes, about 90 per cent of the storage capacity, by 5 am on Thursday early hours. Had the oxygen not arrived, it might have led to another incident ending many lives.
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