Anaesthetic gas to be cheaper

By Celeste Ganga
12 February 2008

The Department of Health welcomes the decision taken by Netcare (a private hospital group) to comply with the single exit price regulations on anaesthetic gas.

“The Minister (Manto Tshabalala-Msimang) met with private hospitals raising concerns around the high cost public of health care. And one specific issue that the Minister raised was with regard to the over charging of anaesthetic gases,” says Health Department spokesperson, Sibani Mngadi.

He adds that the concern around anaesthetic gases has always remained around what is called ‘per minute rate or billing’.

“Which means that the patient was charged for the whole period that the patient has been under anaesthesia without actually calculating the exact amount of gas used,” explains Mngadi.

He goes on to say that with the new decision they expect that the exact gas, or amount of gas used will be calculated and the patients will not be overcharged.

Netcare was not available for comment at the time of publication.

picture: www.webpro.com

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