The management of the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD) has drastically increased treatment fees, making it difficult for patients already struggling due to severe inflation. As per reports, patients who visit or are admitted to KIHD are now bound to look for care at other facilities.
The institute has added new service charges for various treatments, such as angioplasty, which has now been fixed at Rs. 160,000, whereas the coronary care unit (CCU) admittance charges have been set at Rs. 2,000 per day. Similarly, the cost of bypass surgery has been hiked to Rs. 110,000, and the ventilator cost has been increased to Rs. 3,000 per day. In addition, the emergency token charge has been raised to Rs. 300.
To aggravate matters, patients have been referred to private labs for tests, where they are charged astronomical fees. As a result, patients have suffered large financial losses as a result of different costs for comparable procedures and tests in the private sector.
The KIHD management justified the price increases by blaming it on a shortage of funds in previous years, which necessitated an increase in consumer charges in order to continue delivering medical services to the general public.
