Officials and doctors of private hospitals have said the cost of treatment of patients undergoing surgeries has shot up by several thousands of rupees because of anti-Covid-19 precautionary measures.

A private hospital has given its surgeons an estimate of the additional expense a patient has to bear. The estimate, one of the surgeons told Metro, includes Rs 5,000 for the Covid-19 test, another Rs 5,000 for personal protective equipment to be used at the operating theatre and the cost of additional two days’ stay at the hospital for the test.

“The cost of treatment is going up by anything between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000,” the surgeon said.

The state health department on Thursday issued a circular which stated that a patient without any symptom of Covid-19 “may be” tested for the disease before surgery if he or she was from any of the red zones.

In Bengal, Calcutta, North-24 Parganas, Howrah and East Midnapore are the Covid-19 red zones.

“Cases of planned surgery, if having symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 or is a close contact of a confirmed Covid-19 case, will be tested for SARS-CoV-2 before the surgery. Pre-surgery test may also be done if a case of planned surgery comes from a red zone for Covid-19,” the circular says.

The World Health Organisation has said the official name for the virus responsible for Covid-19 is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2

“In case of emergency surgery, the surgical intervention may be undertaken with standard precaution for the surgery team. Sample for test of SARS-CoV-2 may be sent in accordance with the said criteria as above,” circular says.

Although the tests have not been made mandatory, most private hospitals said they were doing pre-surgery tests even for people without symptoms because of safety reasons.

Officials of some private hospitals raised concerns that it could lead to unfair practices.

“There is an apprehension of overcharging or overuse of personal protective equipment. The government should issue a guideline on charges and use of PPE,” said Sudipta Mitra, the chief executive officer of Peerless Hospital.

Metro reported on Thursday that some private hospitals had been accused of overcharging patients for PPE. Few hospitals are apparently charging a patient the cost of 10 PPE daily on the ground that the housekeeping staff, too, need to wear the gear.

“Initially, PPE was costly. But now many local manufacturing units are preparing the shields. There is no fixed maximum retail price for PPE as those are bought in bulk. So, there is no way for a patient to know the exact price of PPE,” the chief executive officer of a private hospital said.

Some doctors, however, said patients were willing to pay the extra amount for PPE because they knew the shields were a must to protect them from the coronavirus.

“My patients and their relatives are asking me whether my team members and I will be wearing PPE during a procedure. They don't mind paying the extra money, which should not be very high,” said interventional cardiologist Rabin Chakraborty.