Aurangabad: Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council Praveen Darekar has claimed that private hospitals are charging hefty amounts from COVID-19 patients and demanded the state government to intervene in the matter.
The state government has included COVID-19 treatment under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, but private hospitals are still charging huge sums from patients, the BJP leader told reporters here on Sunday.
Charges of some hospitals for COVID-19 treatment range from thousands to lakhs of rupees and they have no fear of the government, he said.
“The state government should intervene in this and reimburse the excess money charged from patients. We will undertake an agitation for this, if needed,” Darekar said.
He also claimed that several COVID-19 patients lost their lives in Mumbai as they could not get timely treatment.
The BJP leader said the government should not try to hide the actual number of COVID-19 cases in the state.
“If such a thing happens, COVID-19 will become more severe in the state,” he said.
Till Sunday, Maharashtra reported 85,975 COVID-19 cases and 3,060 deaths due to the disease, as per the state health department.
Darekar also said that the makeshift COVID-19 hospital at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai was damaged due to rains last week and the money spent on setting up the facility got wasted.