The committee said hospital room charges vary widely across locations and even among hospitals in the same area.
They are not yet government policy or a mandatory cap on private hospital room charges.The report's comparison shows the difference between private hospital room charges and three-star hotel rates.At Nanavati Max Hospital in Mumbai's Vile Parle West, a single private room costs ₹6,000–₹12,000 per day, while three-star hotels in the area have prevailing rates of ₹2,500–₹4,500 per night.
The comparison puts hospital room charges at about 100% to 160% higher than hotel rates.At Max Super Speciality Hospital in Saket, Delhi, a single private room costs ₹7,000–₹11,500 per day, compared with ₹2,100–₹3,500 per night at three-star hotels.
The hospital rates are shown as about 150% to 220% higher.The recommendation comes amid a wide gap between healthcare costs in government and private facilities.
It noted that high private hospital expenses can leave households with debt, force asset sales or lead to delayed treatment.It has recommended mechanisms to standardise and cap charges for essential treatments, diagnostics and routine procedures in private hospitals.
A parliamentary committee on Health and Family Welfare has recommended that private hospitals in large metropolitan cities cap room charges at the average tariff of three-star hotels in the area around the hospital.The recommendation is part of a report on the affordability and accessibility of healthcare in India. The committee said hospital room charges vary widely across locations and even among hospitals in the same area. It proposed using nearby three-star hotel tariffs as a benchmark for private hospitals.The committee said costs such as resident doctors, nursing, consumables, meals and laundry could be added to the basic room tariff while calculating the overall charge. It recommended making the three-star hotel benchmark mandatory for private hospitals in large metropolitan cities.Importantly, these are recommendations made by the parliamentary committee. They are not yet government policy or a mandatory cap on private hospital room charges.The report's comparison shows the difference between private hospital room charges and three-star hotel rates.At Nanavati Max Hospital in Mumbai's Vile Parle West, a single private room costs ₹6,000–₹12,000 per day, while three-star hotels in the area have prevailing rates of ₹2,500–₹4,500 per night. The comparison puts hospital room charges at about 100% to 160% higher than hotel rates.At Max Super Speciality Hospital in Saket, Delhi, a single private room costs ₹7,000–₹11,500 per day, compared with ₹2,100–₹3,500 per night at three-star hotels. The hospital rates are shown as about 150% to 220% higher.The recommendation comes amid a wide gap between healthcare costs in government and private facilities. Citing the 80th round of the National Sample Survey for January-December 2025, the committee said average hospitalisation costs ₹6,631 in government hospitals compared with ₹50,508 in private hospitals.The report said private hospital treatment can cost five to 10 times more than treatment at government facilities. The gap is particularly large for childbirth and serious illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and kidney failure.For childbirth, average out-of-pocket medical expenditure was ₹37,630 in private facilities, compared with ₹2,299 in public facilities. The committee linked the higher costs in private healthcare to complaints of excessive billing, unnecessary diagnostics and high charges for routine procedures.The committee has also recommended fixed and unified package rates for standard medical and surgical procedures across public and private healthcare institutions. These packages should include surgeon fees, diagnostic tests, consumables and standard post-operative care.For complex or prolonged treatment, the committee wants tertiary hospitals to provide patients with a comprehensive, legally binding cost estimate before treatment begins. It has also proposed dedicated financial navigators to help patients understand treatment costs, financial assistance and insurance coverage.It further recommended 'Continuum of Care' packages that combine preventive screening, diagnostics, treatment and palliative care under a single capped cost. The aim is to prevent patients from facing unregulated expenses during follow-up, rehabilitation and end-of-life care.The committee said the cost gap between public and private healthcare is contributing to an affordability problem. It noted that high private hospital expenses can leave households with debt, force asset sales or lead to delayed treatment.It has recommended mechanisms to standardise and cap charges for essential treatments, diagnostics and routine procedures in private hospitals. It also called for price transparency before admission and a fast-track grievance mechanism to address excessive billing and insurance disputes.At the same time, the committee has called for higher capacity in government hospitals, including more beds and specialist doctors, particularly in areas with high patient loads. It said improving public healthcare could reduce dependence on costly private facilities and lower out-of-pocket spending.The Committee observes with serious concern the accelerating trend of substantial Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), often exceeding 51%, in the operational management of private hospital chains.The Committee is of the view that this unchecked influx of foreign capital is facilitating the monopolistic acquisition of cost-effective, mid-sized hospitals by large corporate entities.The Committee believes that this aggressive corporatisation is fundamentally transforming healthcare from a public service sector into a purely capitalist enterprise, artificially inflating the cost of medical procedures and triggering a cascade of price hikes across the entire healthcare ecosystem.While acknowledging that foreign capital is highly beneficial and should be actively encouraged in the manufacturing sector, specifically for medical devices, consumables, and specialised medicines for rare diseases, its unrestricted application in direct hospital operations is proving detrimental to affordable patient care.The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Government strictly review and rationalise Foreign Direct Investment limits concerning the operational management and acquisition of existing healthcare facilities to protect affordable mid-sized hospitals from predatory corporate buyouts.Concurrently, the Government must introduce a targeted regulatory framework that explicitly redirects and incentivises such foreign investments toward the domestic manufacturing of medical technologies and pharmaceuticals
