Meghalaya private hospitals come up with high charges for COVID-19 tests

SHILLONG: At a time when the number of COVID cases is on a high surge across the country and people rush to get tested for COVID-19, several private hospitals in Meghalaya have been charging insanely high fees.

While in the government laboratories, Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and RT-PCR tests cost Rs 250 and Rs 500, respectively, private hospitals in the city such as Woodland Hospital, Nazareth Hospital, Bethany

Hospital, Supercare Hospital charge Rs 500 for RAT and Rs 1,700 for RT-PCR.

Some hospitals neither conduct RT-PCR nor CBNAAT.

The RAT at Bethany Hospital costs Rs 520, and the RT-PCR costs Rs 1,750.

While the Supercare Hospital, charges Rs 500 for RAT and it does not perform RT-PCR checks on patients with OPD.

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Woodland Hospital charges Rs 550 for RAT and Rs 1,800 for TrueNat test, but does not perform RT-PCR or CBNAAT.

The RAT fee at Nazareth Hospital is Rs 250, and the CBNAAT fee is Rs 3,000. It does not perform RT-PCR or TrueNat tests.

Reports suggest since the state government has not set prices for private hospitals, a section of them in the city have set their own.

According to a health department official, the state government does not fund private hospitals and, as a result, has not set prices for them.

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