Meghalaya govt fixes rates for COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals

Shillong: The Meghalaya government on Saturday fixed the rates of private hospitals for treatment of coronavirus patients in view of the financial burden faced by residents on COVID-19 expenses.

After receiving recommendations from medical experts, the Meghalaya government has decided to enhance the rates for treatment of COVID-19 in private hospitals, which will be covered under the Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS), said health minister Prestone Tynsong.

MHIS is a universal health insurance scheme (UHIS) in Meghalaya that provides health insurance to all persons that are residents of the state excluding state and central government employees.

“For most patients admitted in hospitals, bills may have risen and the MHIS benefit was covering only 60 per cent of the expenses. So, after considering the proposal given by the MHIS team, the government has decided to approve a new enhanced rate for treatment of patients under COVID-19,” said Tynsong.

The rates have been fixed under five categories:

1. General ward without oxygen requirement: Rs 7,000 per day
2. General ward with oxygen requirement: Rs 11,500 per day
3. ICU HDU without ventilator: Rs 14,000 per day
4. ICU with non-invasive ventilation: Rs 18,000 per day
5. ICU with invasive ventilation: Rs 20,000 per day

Tynsong added that the new rates will be effective from August 15.

In addition to this, the government has also decided to back up mission and private hospitals in the form of ramping ICU oxygen plants.

“There’s a need to ramp up ICU in the state looking at the trend of positivity rate which is high and may keep increasing. So, we are taking this into consideration,” said Tynsong.

Meanwhile, the health minister said that a majority of the COVID-19 cases detected in Meghalaya are of the Delta variant.

“In the second wave, that started this year, medical experts has confirmed that almost all cases detected since April are of the Delta variant of COVID-19,” said Tynsong.

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The department has cautioned residents that new variants are highly transmissible and urged them not to let their guard down.

“We have been trying to control the situation. We need the cooperation of each and every household and residents to strictly follow the protocols issued by the government,” said Tynsong.

The health minister also urged the reisdents to come forward to get themselves vaccinated since that was the only way forward to fight the virus.

According to the health minister, 45 per cent of the total population of Meghalaya have been vaccinated against COVID-19 till date.