The South African government has agreed how much it will pay private hospitals and medical practitioners to treat severely ill Covid-19 patients if public hospitals run out of space.
The government has been in talks for months with private firms and medical associations ahead of a probable scenario where public hospitals run out of critical care beds.
An agreement has been reached on a daily fee of up to R16 000 for Covid-19 patients that get treated in critical care beds in a private hospital.
That’s according to Anban Pillay, the health ministry’s deputy director-general for national health insurance.
The fee includes the cost of using the bed, paying a team of specialists to treat the patient and additional services including pathology and radiology.
