Shawdesh Desk:

Private hospitals in the capital are cashing in on the dengue scourge, charging exorbitant fees for dengue diagnosis and other associated tests for such patients.

The fee for just the diagnosis of the disease varies from Tk 700 to Tk 4,000 at private hospitals and clinics, let alone other necessary tests like blood counts, as there is no government guideline on fees for the tests.

The relevant government officials have viewed that the amount taken by private facilities for dengue tests are too high, but the authorities are yet to take any measure to rein in the private hospitals in this regard.

The mosquito-borne viral disease has already turned highly alarming with the infection spreading around the country. The situation is getting from bad to worse every day.

At least 7,513 dengue patients were hospitalised in the capital alone during the past 26 days of July and 9,657 in total this year, with eight people dying officially from the infection.

In such a situation private hospitals and clinics, especially in the capital, are alleged to have been doing brisk business taking advantage of any kind of government guideline on or regulation of dengue tests fees.

Doctors said that any suspected dengue patient has to go through three types of tests in Bangladesh – IgG, IgM and NS1.

Another sophisticated test called molecular testing through polymerase chain reaction or PCR is not available in Bangladesh except at the government’s disease monitoring arm – Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.

Confirmation of dengue infection is more accurate through PCR than IgG and IgM. The NS1 test is comparatively less costly – and less reliable, doctors said.

Visiting different private hospitals and clinics in the capital on Friday, New Age found that different facilities had arbitrarily fixed fees for the dengue tests of IgG, IgM and NS1.

As was seen, patients generally did not inquire about which type of test they would have to undergo but the charges they had to pay were anyhow quite high – be it IgG, IgM or NS1.

The patients coming to Square Hospital had to pay Tk 4,740 for the dengue diagnostic test including Tk 3,940 for IgG and Tk 800 for CBC. For NS1, it was taking Tk 2,230, excluding CBC.

Shamorita Hospital at Panthapath charges Tk 2,040 for NS1. It has no IgG or IgM test facilities, said the hospital information desk.

BRB Hospital in the same area takes Tk 2,090 for NS1 and CBC together.

LabAid Hospital in Dhanmondi, on the other hand, charges Tk 2,260 for the combination of the tests NS1 and CBC. The lab officials have said that they do not carry out the IgG or IgM tests.

Central Hospital, also in the same locality, charges Tk 1,200 for NS1 and Tk 1,430 for IgG separately. This facility does not offer the CBC test.

Green Life Hospital on Green Road takes Tk 2,030 for NS1 and CBC together while Tk 1530 for only NS1.

The Islami Bank Hospital branches in Nayapaltan, Kakrail and Shahjahanpur, on the other hand, take Tk 1,020 for NS1, Tk 1,625 for IgG and Tk 450 for CBC.

Dhaka Community Hospital in Moghbazar charges relatively lower amounts for the dengue tests.

It carries out IgG and IgM tests together for Tk 700 and Tk 250 for CBC alone. The hospital does not conduct NS1 as it is not a reliable test, its officials said.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University takes Tk 600 for NS1 and Tk 1,000 for IgG and IgM together.

The government hospitals, however, conduct only the NS1 test, which is free for the general patients but charges Tk 250 for the patients in the paying beds.

When asked about the high fees for the tests, Square Hospital medical services director Mirza Nazim Uddin told New Age that the ‘hospital policy decides how much fees it will charge for a diagnostic test’.

‘There are no fixed fees for diagnostic tests,’ he also said.

The private hospitals are run by the guidelines contained in The Medical Practice and Private Clinics and Laboratories (Regulation) Ordinance 1982.

It fixes fees for 105 types of tests which do not include many modern tests, including the dengue tests, while some tests have become outdated.

The ordinance says that the ‘government may, by notification in the official gazette, amend the Schedules [of tests] from time to time’, but the list of tests and their fees have not been amended later.

When asked, Health Services director for hospital Aminul Islam has expressed astonishment that such high amounts of fees are being taken by private facilities for the dengue tests.

‘They are astronomical amounts…there is no reason for charging so much money for tests,’ he said.

Aminul disclosed that they had received complaints about high amounts of money for the dengue tests charged by the private hospitals and convened a meeting with private hospital authorities for Sunday in this regard.

He also said that a directive would be issued soon, fixing the charges of the tests.

Meanwhile, the dengue situation continued to worsen as at least 2,242 dengue patients were taking treatment at 47 hospitals in the capital which are under the dengue monitoring of the Health Services.

On Friday, the health emergency operation centre and control room said that at least 390 new dengue patients were hospitalised in the 24 hours since…at the 47 hospitals.

Dengue killed eight people this year, according to the government, but unofficial reports said the death toll this year so far was at least 33.

Dengue infections in the meantime have also spread outside Dhaka.

At least 247 dengue patients were hospitalised in different districts since January. On Friday, the control room data showed that 47 dengue patients were taking treatment at different hospitals around the country – 33 in Chattogram division, 5 in Khulna division and 9 in Dhaka division excluding the capital.

The New Age correspondent in Bogura reported quoting Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital director Arifur Rahman that 28 dengue patients were under treatment at the hospital with 16 new dengue patients arriving since early Friday.

The New Age correspondent in Pabna reported quoting Pabna Medical College Hospital assistant director Ranjan Kumar Dutta that at least 15 people with dengue infection took treatment in the previous four days at the hospital.