PESHAWAR, April 22: Patients are being charged differently for similar investigations conducted at the three teaching hospitals of the city, doctors and technicians told Dawn on Monday.

“The fee for a routine X-ray at Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) has been fixed at Rs35 while the patients pay Rs70 for the same single X-ray at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) as users’ charges,” said a radiologist at one of the city’s hospitals.

According to him, both the hospitals are run by the government but still the rates for X-rays are different. The fee charged for ultrasound examination at KTH is Rs120 in the morning shift while at HMC, the fee for the same test is Rs200, disclosed the radiologist.

The disparity does not end there. The fee for ultrasound examination at the city’s biggest hospital, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), is only Rs20.

Not only that the patients at LRH are entertained for only Rs20 but the test is also conducted the moment they deposit the users’ charges which also provides them the opportunity to see the consultants the same day who had advised them the test, said an X-ray technician.

On the contrary, the patients pay Rs200 at HMC and Rs120 at KTH but they have to get a later date for the test which adds to their miseries because they are made to visit the hospital again on the day of test and show it to the concerned doctor.

The patients visiting the hospitals in the evening shift to benefit from the institution-based practice (IBP), pay Rs300, Rs200 and Rs200 at HMC, LRH and KTH. “This difference should be removed immediately because the government should not charge the people differently for the same tests. The government health managers should apply equal rates for various tests in the government-owned hospitals,” said the radiologist at LRH.

Besides, there are some other discrepancies in users’ charges. For instance, an X-ray called Intravenous Urethrogram (IVU) consuming five films is done at Rs400 while another X-ray called Barium Enema consuming as many films is done at Rs500. According to technicians, they had brought these discrepancies to the notice of incharge of their respective departments but to no avail.

Another very famous test — Doppler ultrasound — is done at Rs120 at KTH whereas the patients pay Rs200 for the same test at HMC.

The patients pay Rs100 at HMC as a fee called special examination charges while the KTH charges only Rs25 under the same head.

Radiographers told Dawn they had to charge what the government had fixed for different tests and procedures.

It is also noteworthy that the government has always blamed the privately-run investigative centres for overcharging the patients but the rates charged at various government hospitals make it abundantly clear that the same practice is also being followed at state-run hospitals. Nevertheless, the official sector hospitals are required under the law to maintain uniform rate table for the patients.

Similarly, the fee charged for ECG at KTH, LRH and HMC is only Rs10 for indoor/hospitalised patients while the patients coming through IBP are made to pay Rs60 which is six times as much.

According to an ECG technician, the total cost of one ECG is only Rs3. As opposed to it, the patients admitted in private rooms of these hospital, are being charged Rs50.

The fees for blood tests like HCV, HIV and other tests conducted at these hospitals is also high considering the market rates of these tests.