Strictness on Ventilator Billing: In view of the complaints of huge bills being collected in the name of ventilators in private hospitals, the Union Health Ministry has issued strict guidelines.
Under the new rules, if a patient is kept on ventilator for more than 14 days, the hospital will have to give a clear reason for it.
Committee of doctors will review, audit will be done every month
According to the Health Ministry, such cases will be reviewed by a committee of expert doctors. Along with this, it will be mandatory to conduct internal audit of ventilator usage every month.
The government says that this will stop the trend of keeping patients on ventilator for a long time unnecessarily.
Reevaluate the patient’s condition every 48–72 hours.
The new guidelines also state that doctors will have to reassess the patient’s condition every 48 to 72 hours. If there is little possibility of improvement in the patient’s condition, then counseling with the family members will be mandatory, so that decisions related to treatment can be taken in a transparent manner.
Ventilator charge will be collected according to usage only
The Health Ministry has made it clear that now hospitals will be able to charge for the ventilator only according to the period of use. Earlier in many cases the fare was added even after removing the ventilator, but now this will not happen.
The longer the ventilator is used, the more the bill will be payable. This decision has been taken after continuous complaints from patients and their families.
Experts warn, risk increases with prolonged use
Experts say that a ventilator plays an important role in saving lives when needed, but using it for a long time without medical need not only increases the cost of treatment but also increases the risk of infection.
The issue was raised in the Lok Sabha, a high-level committee was formed
This issue was raised by Dr. Anand Kumar in the Lok Sabha in August. He had stressed the need to create guidelines for transparency in the use of ventilators in the private health sector.
After this, a high-level committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Dr. Sujata Chaudhary, Additional Director General in the Health Ministry.
Doctors of AIIMS and big hospitals prepared rules
This committee included senior doctors from AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The committee has finalized these guidelines after detailed deliberations.