Govt urged to rein in prices of private hospitals

The Medical Malpractice Victims’ network yesterday called for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to set up a panel to control the cost of medical treatment at private hospitals. 

This is after the network discovered that many patients end up having to pay huge amounts, especially for emergency care, even though some of them are eligible for the government’s free emergency scheme.

The network’s chairperson, Preeyanant Lorsermwattana, said she had received many complaints about the high prices at private hospitals over the past few years. 

“There is no national agency to control the pricing strategy at private hospitals,” she said, adding that controlling the way private hospitals charge for treatment would make things fair for everyone. 

Preyanant yesterday submitted her petition to Yingluck, who was chairing a meeting at Government House with representatives of three national healthcare agencies to help improve the free emergency medical scheme. 

Separately, Preeyanant also asked Yingluck to help Supakkini Achineethongkham, 53, who is in a critical condition after being hit by a car last year. After she was taken to a nearby hospital for emergency care, her husband Prasert was made to sign a bond to cover the bills even though the patient was eligible for the government’s free emergency care scheme. “We were asked to sign a bond saying that we would pay Bt500,000 for medical bills even before my wife received immediate attention for a brain haemorrhage,” Prasert noted in the letter. “I was frightened and had no choice but to sign the bond, because I wanted to save my wife’s life.” 

Prasert ended up having to borrow Bt631,000 from the bank to cover the medical bills, and is now at home taking care of his wife and four young kids. 

“The hospital told me that I would get the money back if it was reimbursed by the National Health Security Office [NHSO],” he added. 

Since the scheme began on April 1, 2012, many private hospitals have been charging patients and getting them to sign a bond before providing emergency care. Of the 353 private hospitals across the nation, 241 signed up for the scheme last year.