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Govt halves dengue test charges to Tk 500 amid disease outbreak
The government has fixed charges of dengue tests at a maximum of Tk 500 to drive down the costs of healthcare amid a massive outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease.
Published : 28 July 2019, 11:29 AM
Updated : 28 July 2019, 04:37 PM
The decision came after a meeting between the government and owners of private hospitals amid deaths of at least 25 people from dengue.
Government hospitals do the NS1 antigen test for free to determine dengue and now the private hospitals will have to keep the charges at a maximum of Tk 500 for the same test, according to a notice issued by the Directorate General of Health Services.
They can charge a maximum of Tk 400 for the complete blood count or CBC test and Tk 500 for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) tests.
The announcement came after Abul Kalam Azad, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, met with the owners of private hospitals in Dhaka on Sunday.
“All hospitals will charge the same rates for the three tests to determine dengue. This will be implemented from today,” he said.
The private hospitals were charging between Tk 1,000 and Tk 1,500 on an average for these tests.
The High Court has recently asked the authorities whether the government hospitals were conducting dengue tests for free and the private hospitals were charging extra amid the outbreak.
The hospitals in Dhaka have been grappling to handle record number of dengue patients, which stood 11,654 so far this year with at least 25 fatal cases, according to unofficial accounts.
Patients and their relatives alleged the hospitals stopped admission while doctors said they have to send patients back home for a lack of seats.
Azad said the government asked the hospitals to increase seats for dengue patients, open dengue corners, register such patients, send information to the health directorate’s daily and follow the national guidelines for treatment of dengue.
The directorate formed 10 teams to monitor whether the hospitals were following the instructions, according to Azad.
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