PESHAWAR, Jan 23: Patients going for treatment to three teaching hospitals of the city are being charged differently for similar laboratory tests, radiological tests and investigations, doctors told Dawn.

"The charges of a routine X-ray at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) is Rs50, while patients pay Rs70 for the same X-ray at the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC). The fee for the same X-ray at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) has been fixed at Rs35," said a radiologist at a city hospital.

According to him, all these three teaching hospitals were being operated by the provincial government, but still the patients paid different non-standardized amounts as charges for similar tests . Not only that but the fee charged for ultrasound examination at the KTH was Rs120, whereas it fee at the HMC was Rs200. At the LRH, the patients paid Rs250 for the ultrasound.

The patients are required to pay Rs10 for electrocardiogram (ECG) at the LRH, while the fee for the same test was Rs15 at the KTH. The people admitted at the private rooms had to pay Rs75 at the KTH for the same tests and examinations.

Moreover, there are some other discrepancies haunting the patients. For instance, an X-ray report, called Intravenous Urethrogram (IVU) consuming five films is done for Rs400, while another X-ray report called Barium Enema consuming as many films is done for Rs500. The hospitals' technicians, who work on the machines, said they had brought these discrepancies to the notice of the administration several times, but to no avail.

Another very important test, the Doppler Ultrasound, is done for Rs120 at the KTH, whereas patients pay Rs200 for the same test at the HMC. The patients also pay Rs100 at the HMC as a fee for special examination charges, while the KTH charges only Rs25 under the same head.

Likewise, the fee for CT Scans at the LRH is Rs700 and Rs1,700 for indoor and outdoor patients respectively. Whereas, the patient pay Rs1,300 and 2,500 for the same test at the HMC.

The difference in the rate of HBS and HCV is also a great problem for patients at these hospitals. Patients pay Rs100 for HBS and HCV at KTH against Rs450 at the HMC for the same test.

Interestingly, the kits on the basis which the HBS and HCV are done, is available for Rs40 in the open market. "An inquiry is also underway against a pathologist at one of the city hospitals, who has been accused of charging the patients for HBS and HCV, the kits for which had been supplied by the WHO", said a pathologist.

"The government is required to maintain uniformed rate of similar tests at the public sector's hospitals, but like the private (laboratory and investigative) outlets, the patients are being charged differently for similar tests at the hospitals", a radiologist said.

The problem for the patients is that all of them had to pay. There were days when free tests were done at the hospitals, but now all of the patients must pay some amount for every test at the hospitals.

The operation charges at the KTH is Rs100, whereas the patients paid Rs300 at the LRH and HMC. Doctors and technicians involved in the conduct of the tests, say that the cost of the tests was very little, but the patients paid more.

Most of the patients find it easier to get their tests conducted from outside, because in hospitals, they are given long dates, while they obtain the result of the desired tests from the private outfits the same day. Furthermore, they also save money, because some of these tests happened to be inexpensive at the private laboratories than at the provincially-run hospitals.