Price war cuts into cardiac surgery now

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MARCH 9. In the ongoing price war among major hospitals in the twin cities, it is now the turn of cardiac surgery rates to be slashed. Last month, several hospitals had declared a huge cut in the rates of CT scan and MRI.

Medwin Hospitals today announced a 30 per cent to 50 per cent cut in rates for coronary angiogram, angioplasty and stenting following its acquisition of a new cardiac cathlab with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) facility at a cost of Rs. 2.5 crores.

Dr. B. Ramesh Babu, Managing Director, told reporters here on Friday that coronary angiogram had been reduced to Rs. 4,950 (existing rate Rs. 10,000), coronary angioplasty Rs. 37,500 (down from Rs. 50,000) and coronary angioplasty and stenting Rs. 77,500 (against Rs. 95,000 earlier).

The price cut was not a response to anyone but a conscious decision to provide hi-tech heart care to one and all by coming out with a new package. These packages are applicable to general ward patients and would take effect from Saturday. In addition, coronary angiogram is being offered to white card holders for Rs. 3,000.

Dr. Ramesh Babu claimed that these prices were the lowest in the country considering that the tariffs in Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai were higher than in Hyderabad by 30 per cent to 100 per cent. He said that all kinds of angiograms from head to foot were possible on the new cardiac cathlab with the quality of its images being high. As a result, the time take by the procedure was cut down and more procedures could be done within the same time.

Dr. Ramesh Babu held that the price cut would become feasible by leveraging the availability of state-of-art cathlab and full-time cardiologists. Answering a query, he said cost was a major factor in heart surgeries and patients tended to shop around for the lowest rates.

In fact, nearly 30 per cent of self-paying patients used to turn away and approach Government hospitals because they could not afford the rates. This trend, he hoped, would be reversed now.

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Section  : Southern States
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