Majority want private hospital charges to be standardised based on rating: Survey

In a survey participated in by 40,000 respondents, the majority of citizens want charges at private hospital to be standardised based on hospital ratings.

Around 87 per cent citizens feel that surgery/procedure charges at hospitals should be standardised to a fixed price based on hospital star rating to increase transparency and trust in healthcare services, according to a survey conducted by citizen engagement platform LocalCircles.

"Around 42 per cent citizens do not trust the healthcare system in India and an equal 42 per cent feel that the rising costs in hospitals were a concern for them," the survey said.

For 9 per cent respondents, the availability of healthcare services was a cause of concern and for 7 per cent it was the rising cost of drugs and medicines.

After almost 15 years, the Union Cabinet approved the new National Health Policy, NHP 2017 that only covers government healthcare providers, which is less than 20 per cent of the healthcare industry now.

In another LocalCircles poll, 82 per cent citizens said that NHP 2017 should have covered and regulated private hospitals whereas a meagre 8 per cent disagreed with it. 6 per cent said that it would not make any difference and 4 per cent did not have an opinion on it.

--IANS

mg/vm