Profiteering during a pandemic

Context: Overcharging the public should be made a punishable offence under the Disaster Management Act.

Instances of overcharging the public during the pandemic:

• Private hospitals overcharging patients, even after State governments capped COVID-19 treatment charges.

• The private hospital in West Bengal was charging ?7,000 a day for the cost of PPEs used by the doctors against the cap of ?1,000 fixed by the West Bengal government.

• Increased cost of medicines:  In Srinagar, Remdesivir was being sold for as much as ?36,000 against the normal rate of ?6,000. 
• High transportation cost: For transporting patients up to a distance of about 10-15 km, they charged as much as ?30,000 in Mumbai.

• Poor migrants who wanted to go home had to spend large amounts to hire vehicles. 

Way Forward:

• Epidemic Diseases Act in 1897: According to the law, anyone disobeying the orders of any public servant can be punished under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.
• Provision ought to be incorporated in the Disaster Management Act of 2005 to make overcharging the public a punishable offense. 
• Denying admission in hospitals, refusing to bury the dead in cemeteries, etc. need to be made punishable offenses.