In a circular issued at the PGI a few days ago, the revised rates are applicable with immediate effect. The new tests and facilities include gamma knife therapy, PET scans and capsule endoscopy.

The occupants of a VIP private room will now have to shell Rs 1,500 per day from the previous Rs 1,200. For the ordinary private wards, the new rates applicable are Rs 950 per day, Rs 200 more than the previous Rs 750. For a private room at the Advanced Paediatric Centre (APC), the new charges are Rs 750 per day against Rs 600.

While the diet and laboratory charges for patients admitted in private wards remain unchanged, the admission fee has been doubled from Rs 100 per day to Rs 200.

The cost of some procedures like the Dual Chamber Pacemaker at the cardiology department has, meanwhile, been slashed. The cost of gamma knife therapy at the Department at Neurology has been fixed at Rs 1 lakh for the patients of the general ward and Rs 1.50 lakh for the patients of the private ward. At the Department of Gastroenterology, capsule endoscopy has been introduced at Rs 250 for patients of the general ward.

Marginal changes have also been made in some tests conducted at the Biochemistry departments — the lipid profile test rates have been raised from Rs 50 to Rs 100.

After the General Body of the hospital approved the new rates, officials at the institute said the raise was long overdue.

The Nuclear Medicine department at the institute is coming up with a PET scan centre and the PGI has notified new rates for the various procedures.