A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Velammal Hospital in Madurai does treatment to patients with no doctor fee and no admission fee. The post even claims that the hospital doesn’t charge for any operations, and medicines are sold at a discount of 8%. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Velammal Hospital, Madurai, treats patients with no doctor fee and no admission fee.
Fact: Regarding the viral claim of no doctor fee and no admission fee, Velammal hospital confirmed to Factly that payment needs to be made. There is no exemption to operation charges, and no 8% discount to medicine bills. However, free medical camps are frequently organised by Velammal Hospital in and around Tamil Nadu. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When searched online about the costs incurred by Velammal Hospital in Madurai, the costs for various health check-ups were provided on the Hospital’s website. Nowhere is it mentioned on the website that there would be no doctor fee & or admission fee, nor is it mentioned that there would be no charges for operation or an 8% discount when medicines were bought.
According to an article published by the Hindu in 2020, Velammal Hospital quoted around 15,000 rupees for normal wards and 25,000 rupees for ICU wards per day during COVID-19.
A user had reviewed Velammal Hospital on Facebook. The person shared photos of pharmacy receipts. There was no mention of any 8% discount in those receipts.
However, free medical camps are frequently organized by Velammal Hospital and that information has been shared via Facebook posts here, here, and here.
Factly had reached out to Velammal hospital regarding the claim of having no doctor fee and no admission fee, to which they confirmed that payment needs to be made.
To sum it up, the claim that there is no doctor fee and no admission fee in Velammal hospital in Madurai is not true.
