COST OF HEALTHCARE IN INDIA: THE PRIVATE HOSPITAL DIVIDE

Abstract

Private hospitals in India have emerged as prominent service sector acting as the comfort zones for patients during the last couple of decades, catering to the healthcare needs of the stratified society. During this process, private hospitals have undergone a marked stratification into various levels of luxury similar to the other service industries like the entertainment, hospitality, etc.  Accordingly, the hospital fee structure also got diversified and escalated to a large extent especially in the high-end hospital sector. This has led to a common understanding that private hospitals are too much expensive.  This study has attempted a practical analysis of the fact by collecting real data on the fee structure of corporate hospitals and nursing homes. The fees charged for 5 common medical conditions demanding hospitalization and surgical intervention, such as Appendectomy (laparoscopic), Cholecystectomy (laparoscopic), Normal delivery, Caesarean section, and Tonsillectomy across 6 cities of India in corporate hospitals and nursing homes have been collected and analysed. The study has indicated variations in the hospital fees for the same procedures across the cities and within the cities among different hospitals. Analysis of the data has confirmed the average fees collected by the corporate hospitals are 58.5% more than that of the nursing homes. Laparoscopic surgeries are more highly-priced in corporate hospitals when compared to other procedures.

Keywords: Normal delivery, Caesarean section, Tonsillectomy, Cholecystectomy, Appendectomy, Laparoscopic.