Bengaluru: Karnataka govt has directed private hospitals to display price charts for important medical procedures at their reception counters to help patients make informed choices, health minister UT Khader announced Thursday after a meeting with Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (Phana).“There are over 4,000 medical procedures offered by hospitals, and it is not possible to display all the prices. Hence, we have directed them to put up large, readable boards listing the rates of important procedures and maintain a register with the prices of other procedures,” he said.Khader also made it clear that no hospital should withhold a patient’s body over unpaid bills. A clear policy will be formulated to address this issue, he added.PHANA agreed to the proposal, Khader said, and also explained why treatment costs vary. “We discussed why hospitals charge different rates for the same procedures. Differences in facilities, infrastructure and other factors may account for some variation, but there should be a limit to how much hospitals can charge.”Hospital ownership, Khader said, plays a significant role in determining prices. “In hospitals run by doctor-owners, prices are largely under control. However, when foreign investors acquire hospitals and operate them as chains while retaining their old names, they charge steep corporate rates. We want to discuss restricting foreign investment in healthcare sector with the Centre. If foreign investment is permitted, there should be a price cap,” he said.Khader said private hospitals had sought six months to implement govt’s earlier order on displaying MRP and landing costs of non-scheduled drugs in hospitals. The order was expected to come into force on Nov 1. “However, we cannot simply grant them that much time. The FDA commissioner and officials will examine how much time it will take to implement the proposed changes. We will wait for the court hearing on Oct 27 before deciding on the next steps,” he said.Khader said he decided to meet pharmaceutical companies after hospitals said they were procuring medicines at prices significantly higher than their manufacturing costs. “We will also meet insurance companies to understand why a procedure that costs Rs 1 lakh at a hospital can result in a bill of Rs 3 lakh,” he said.