Failing to pay for wife's treatment, man gets contact number of loan agency from private hospital

KOLKATA: A family member of a patient admitted to AMRI Hospital alleged that its administrative department gave him the contact of a private agency, which provides loans, after he failed to produce the money demanded for his wife's treatment.

Jeevan Kumar's wife was admitted to the hospital on December 29 due to coma. Kumar alleged that he was pressured to take his wife back home. He also alleged that the hospital demanded a huge amount of money.

As the patient's relatives failed to pay the amount off, a staff member of the administrative department of the hospital gave him the contact number of a private agency that provides loans. When the victim's husband called up the number, he was informed that he could get a loan, provided he paid 17-18 percent of interest for it. He claimed that he had already paid around Rs 3.4 lakh to the hospital authorities for the treatment.

The victim's husband found it difficult to get a loan from this agency. On Thursday, when he told the hospital authorities that he would not be able to pay the amount they had demanded, staff members refused to release the patient. They had demanded for another 1 lakh. Having found no option to release his wife from the hospital, Kumar finally went to the police station seeking their intervention.

He narrated the whole incident to the cops, who later reached the hospital and wanted to know from the hospital authorities what actually happened. Following that, the hospital authorities reportedly started the proceedings to release the patient.