Research group criticises PMGH’s fee

A research group has condemned the hefty pricing of snake antivenom by the Port Moresby General Hospital.

Port Moresby General Hospital is charging K15,000 for snake antivenom, which has not gone down well with the Charles Campbell Toxinology Centre. The fees were circulated via an internal memo by the PMGH management.

CCTC has criticised the move, making public their frustration on Facebook:

We have provided hundreds of vials of antivenom to patients at PMGH, and at no time have we ever charged any fee… the decision by PMGH to seek full cost recovery from patients with absolutely no financial means whatsoever to pay such a fee is short-sighted, poorly considered and needs to be reviewed immediately.

But PMGH CEO and vascular surgeon, Dr. Umesh Gupta, says there has been no supply from both the National Department of Health and CCTC for a while now.

“NDOH has been unable to supply a single antivenom vial for more than a year. The CCTC has provided good service to the hospital in the past. However, they have been unable to supply a single antivenom vial for the last 3 months. There is hardly ever anybody in the unit,” the CEO said in an email response.

He added that the cheapest available vial of antivenom on the market costs K13,500 each.

He also mentioned the high cost posed by the high demand and limited supply gap, cost of manufacturing and an almost monopoly type market.

Dr Gupta clarified that “even though there are charges for the antivenom, all the emergency doctors are fully empowered to completely waive off the charges for those who cannot afford.”

“…we would like to collect some money from those who can afford so that we can save those who cannot. It is completely false, libel and malicious to state that we are going to charge from those with no financial means.”

There are similar cases with charges of the CT Scan & MRI Scan, which cost K500 respectively.

“In an emergency (and especially like in snake bites) where time is of essence, doctors will treat and ask questions later.

“We will simply rely on the goodness of people themselves who might feel grateful enough to pay later on. But if they can’t, that is fine too. There will be no pressure on payments for such grievous conditions.”

Author: 
Gloria Bauai