New Delhi: The 176th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare was tabled in Parliament. Some of the key recommendations made in it are: the room rent charged by private hospitals in metropolitan cities should be fixed by comparing it with the tariff of a 3-star hotel, and only the additional costs of doctors, nurses, food, and sanitation should be allowed to be added to it.
Before treatment begins, hospitals must provide patients with a legally valid full treatment cost estimate report. The practice of increasing treatment charges based on the quality of the room chosen by the patient should be abolished. A uniform treatment fee structure should be in place for all rooms.
In private and government hospitals linked to the Ayushman Bharat scheme, it should be made mandatory to set up ‘Amrit’ and ‘Jan Aushadhi’ low-cost pharmacies. To help with cancer and rare disease treatments, a separate national and state health fund should be created by pooling corporate social responsibility funds and donations.
In India, a family admitted to a hospital once spends an average of up to Rs. 34,064, and while the World Health Organization recommends 3.5 beds per 1,000 people, India has only 1.3 beds. Therefore, rural healthcare infrastructure must be improved. It is stated thus.