Those visiting Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will not have to pay for blood tests, X-rays, ultrasound scans and similar diagnostic procedures in the future. AIIMS, country’s premier state-run Institute, which caters to patients from Delhi and across the country, also plans to do away with admission and outpatient registration charge.
“We realised that charges for several tests and procedures at AIIMS were minimal and generated nominal revenue. So, we have proposed to remove user charges for any test or procedure costing less than Rs 500,” director Randeep Guleria said, reported Hindustan Times.
For the convenience of people, AIIMS has kept 500 as a fee for several tests which would cost 10 times more in private medical labs or hospitals. All such tests will be free once the decision is implemented, which is expected to kick within a few weeks.
Around 10,000 people visit the outpatient department every day and at any given time, more than 2,000 patients are admitted to the hospital. The hospital earns Rs 101 crore annually from registration charges, admission fee and diagnostics tests.
Collecting these charges, which are highly subsidised, cost the hospital “significantly more” than the revenue generated, officials in the AIIMS’s finance department said.
To make up for the loss, the hospital plans to increase the private room charge, which is around Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000 a day.
“We will cross-subsidise the treatment of the poor patients by increasing the cost of the private wards minimally, may be by Rs 200 to Rs 500. In fact, this way the hospital will also generate more revenue,” Guleria said. The hospital has 266 private rooms.
Even if the charge goes up by Rs 500, AIIMS will still be cheaper than private hospitals where such a room can cost anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000.
