Rajasthan government caps black fungus treatment charges, provides insurance cover

JAIPUR: Two days after declaring mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, an epidemic, the health department on Friday capped admission and treatment charges for patients suffering from the disease at private hospitals. The disease will also be covered under the Chiranjeevi Yojna insurance scheme for free treatment.

As per the health department order, mucormycosis patients have been divided into three categories. Charges in private hospitals have been fixed based on these categories and NABH accreditation of hospitals.

“NABH accredited hospitals can charge patients with moderate sickness Rs 5,500 per day for being kept in isolation bed with oxygen, Rs 8,250 for patients with severe sickness who will use ICU beds without ventilators and Rs 9,900 for patients with very severe sickness who will use ICU beds with ventilators,” said health minister Raghu Sharma.

And for non-NABH category of hospitals, the charges will be Rs 5,000 per day for patients with moderate symptoms, Rs 7,500 for patients with severe symptoms and Rs 9,000 for those with very severe symptoms. “This will include the cost of PPE kits, consultancy, nursing, food, medicine and consumables, and housekeeping charges, among others,” said a health department official. Sharma also said that black fungus has been included in Chiranjeevi Yojna and treatment would be free as covered by the scheme. “So far, we have identified 700 patients with black fungus. They are being treated as per protocol by doctors. We have also capped its treatment cost in private hospitals. We have urged doctors to judiciously use steroids among Covid-19 patients to check the spread of black fungus,” he added.