Ggn pvt hospitals working with no regard for the law

Gurugram: Private hospitals in Gurugram seem to be headlines for all the wrong reasons; not only due to cases of alleged medical negligence, but for being on the wrong side of the law in general.

On Wednesday, the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) of Haryana sealed a part of the basement of Paras Hospital, after it was found that rather than using the area for parking, it was used for running commercial units like offices and shops.

In another case, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) is trying to recover over Rs 51 crore from Artemis Hospital, which has been accrued over four years as part enhancement revenue that the hospital needs to pay to the public agency.

The private hospital, located in Gurugram's posh Sector-51 area, was the beneficiary of a huge area of land of land in a prime area of the city more than ten years ago.

With the valuation of the land growing over the years, the hospital must pay some amount to the public agency.

According to sources, a petition by the hospital to not pay the enhancement amount was also rejected by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

As per formal information sought by activist Mohit Khatana, it emerged that over 80 small and big private hospitals have avoided paying commercial tax and dues of more than Rs one crore are pending on them.

The lack of a proper public healthcare system has driven patients to depend on private hospitals in the city. On an average, 11 people lose their lives daily in Gurugram six major private hospitals.

The information was provided by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, after an RTI petition was filed by Khatana.

There have also been cases where laboratories in private hospitals have been found to have fleeced customers in the name of conducting tests of dengue.