Adequate medical colleges, manpower make hospitalization cheaper in state

BENGALURU: It’s home to a high number of doctors, nurses and government-run tertiary and super-specialty hospitals; many charitable hospitals and medical colleges-cum-hospitals and government health schemes. All this has ensured that hospitalization cost in Karnataka is the lowest among South Indian states, say private and government hospital doctors in Bengaluru.

The National Health Profile 2017 by the

Central Bureau of Health Intelligence

(CBHI) recently showed that hospitalization cost in Karnataka, both in urban and rural areas, is lowest compared to neighbours Tamil Nadu, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and Telangana. The average household expenditure, both medical and non-medical, per hospitalization case is Rs 12,578 in rural Karnataka and Rs 15,011 in urban Karnataka. In Goa, it’s a whopping Rs 32,211 in rural areas and Rs 37,409 in urban, double that of Karnataka’s.

Dr Sudarshan H Ballal, chairman,

Manipal Hospital

, said: “The state has been able to achieve such low hospitalization cost mostly because we have a large number of medical colleges-cum-hospitals, which are mandated by the Medical Council of India to treat a large number of patients in general wards at discounted rates. Also, several government health schemes have reduced the cost.”

“The universal healthcare scheme, envisioned in the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment (KPME) Act, if implemented appropriately for all stakeholders, will further lower the cost,” he added.

Dr C N Manjunath, director,

Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology

, said: “Karnataka has a large number of tertiary care and super-specialty government-run hospitals apart from private ones, giving patients the option to avail of quality treatment at low cost. Premier institutes like Nimhans, Jayadeva and others at the district level have enabled the state to have low hospitalization cost.”

Doctors pointed out that market forces have reduced the cost too. “Not only do we have large number of medical and nursing colleges but also majority of graduating doctors and nurses prefer to work in this state,” Dr Devi Shetty, chairman and founder, Narayana Health, explained.

“The value of land in Karnataka is not as high as that in Delhi or Maharashtra. This leads to a large number of gynaecologists and paediatricians moving to tier 3 and tier 2 cities and opening new hospitals there,” he pointed out.





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