Panel Recommends Price Caps on Private Hospital Treatments in 176th Report

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare has recommended strict price-capping and standardisation of essential treatments, routine procedures, and diagnostics across all private healthcare facilities. The recommendations were detailed in the panel's 176th report, which was tabled in Parliament.

The high-level committee proposed the institutional mechanism to address opaque billing systems and wide disparities in private healthcare. Data cited by the panel indicated that private hospitalisation costs remain a heavy burden for middle- and lower-income families, frequently leading patients and their families into economic distress and financial debt. Treatment costs in private healthcare settings often run several times higher than those in public facilities.

To improve the affordability of medicines, the parliamentary panel recommended the mandatory establishment of Jan Aushadhi Kendras directly on the premises of all large private hospitals empanelled under government schemes.

The committee also highlighted the boom in India's medical tourism sector, noting that large corporate hospital chains—often supported by foreign direct investment and government concessions—have seen significant revenue growth from international patients. The report proposed a structured cross-subsidisation model requiring institutions profiting from high-net-worth and international patients to subsidise tertiary care for economically weaker domestic citizens.

Additionally, the report called for targeted health insurance products to cover the "missing middle," referring to millions of citizens who do not qualify for state-backed safety nets such as AB-PMJAY but cannot afford commercial private insurance.

To address infrastructural bottlenecks and extreme overcrowding at premier central medical institutions, the panel pushed for an independently administered AIIMS facility or a fully equipped satellite center in the northern outskirts of Delhi. Public health experts noted that expanding public infrastructure is vital to reduce the volume of patients forced into expensive private networks.

The committee's proposals also included mandatory biannual kidney checkups for individuals aged 20 and above to detect silent conditions early, alongside setting up new AIIMS facilities or satellite centers at major hubs to reduce crowding and patient waiting times.