The State government issued a G.O. on Monday allowing the YSR Aarogyasri Health Care Trust to pay additional amounts over and above the per-day packages for certain high-end drugs used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, depending on the severity of the infection.
The payments will be made on the basis of utilisation evidences and justification by the doctors submitted by the hospitals designated for COVID-19 in A and B categories.
The G.O. No. 78 says that the additional payments could be made, for instance, towards the cost of Remdesivir (anti-viral drug used in moderate to severe COVID cases), Meropenem (antibiotic used to treat sepsis and septic shock) and Tocilizumab injections (drug used for cytokine storm syndrome) and Favipiravir tablets (anti-viral drug used in mild COVID cases).
The Government Oder also said it is an indicative list of drugs and that other drugs approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) may be used to treat the patients.
The payments will be made as per the latest MRP of the drugs. However, the number of doses has to be in line with the protocols issued by the ICMR and no payment will be made for over-use.
Any violations in this regard will viewed seriously, the G.O. said.
CT scan
It has been further stipulated that high resolution CT scans of chest done to assess the extent of lesions and healing in the lungs (when CXR is inconclusive) can be repeated as per the requirements and the cost of such scans payable has been fixed at ₹2,500.
Non-Aarogyasri hospitals
Meanwhile, the non-Aarogyasri hospitals in A and B categories are allowed to charge extra to the patients towards the cost of high-end drugs and repeated investigations as per the latest MRPs in addition to the specified package rates, subject to the submission of evidence.
