No licensed health care practitioner or facility in the country is permitted to charge their customers excessively and above the declared fees, a senior official of the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has said.
All private practitioners and facilities are legally bound to inform their customers about the cost of any treatment or service beforehand. They are not allowed to raise the fees afterwards, except in extraordinary circumstances.
“We have received several complaints from the public about the high fees charged by private health care facilities and practitioners. Some patients have complained that they had been forced to pay charges much higher than what was initially told to them. This is not tolerated,” Dr Jamal Rashid Al Khanji, director of the Medical Licensing Department (MLD) told The Peninsula.
He, however, added that there can be exceptions to this rule. In some cases, the condition of the patient may demand more elaborate tests and examinations that were not anticipated initially.
“These are exceptional cases. Even in such circumstances, the doctor should inform the patient or his relatives about the expected cost of the treatment and seek approval,” said Al Khanji. All private health care facilities in the country have already been asked to submit their price lists to the MLD while seeking renewal of their licence. They are not permitted to raise the fees without approval from the Department.
“We have no plans to fix the medical fees in the private sector. We are promoting healthy competition in this sector so that the customers would eventually benefit. However, we are strictly monitoring the prices to ensure that no one is charging excessively. That is why we have asked all health care facilities to submit their price lists,” added Al Khanji.
The Peninsula