The Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday announced that the fees to be charged for CT scan services should not exceed Rs 3,000. The government made this decision to regulate the fee after it received several complaints against exorbitant fees charged by the private entities for CT scan to diagnose Covid-19.

The computerised tomography (CT) scan has become a key tool to detect Covid-19 infection and the government has warned against violation of the fee. Anil Kumar Singhal, principal secretary of government health, medical and family welfare department, issued GO 47 on Sunday fixing the CT scan fees.

Health Minister Alla Nani appealed to people to complain by calling 1902 if they find about the collection of extra amount more than Rs 3,000. He directed all the hospitals and labs to display boards about fees being charged for CT scan without fail on their premises and to issue bills to every patient. He warned of license cancellation if the fee was not collected as per the norms.

The order stated that in the current second wave of Covid-19, many cases are being reported which have to be admitted and treated based on CT/HRCT Scan. If this important diagnostic test is not affordable to the general public, then the disease will spread in the community leading to more cases leading to a burden on the health infrastructure.

The state government, which has included the treatment of Covid patients in the YSR Aarogyasri scheme has so far provided free medical services to 1.01 lakh covid patients. A total of Rs 309.61 crore was spent on this. It was learnt that since April last year, the government has started free treatment for Covid patients in private network hospitals