Health body asks Fleming Hosp to return `3L and Rs 1.20L in separate cases
Kolkata: West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has asked two top private hospitals in the city — R Fleming and Desun to return money to the patients as both the hospitals had charged exorbitantly.
During a hearing on Wednesday, the WBCERC directed the R Fleming Hospital to refund around Rs 3 lakh and Rs 1.2 lakh to the family members of patients in two separate incidents. During the probe the Commission found that the hospital had taken money from the patient in excess. One Barun Haldar, a resident of Kestopur was admitted to the hospital on July 31 and he remained at the hospital till August 9. The hospital authorities prepared a bill of Rs 3,20,000. The family members alleged that the hospital did not give any bill initially and later a bill was handed over to them where there was no detail. The family members also alleged that no critical care was required while the hospital claimed that the patient was kept in isolation and they had charged a Rs 35,000 per day as a part of the package. The WBCERC told the hospital that a cost of Rs 35,000 per day is not justifiable as a patient is supposed to be kept in Covid general ward after he tests positive. One should be kept in isolation when he/she awaits the Covid report. The Commission instructed the hospital to return Rs 1.2 lakh.
In a separate incident, the same hospital has been ordered to refund Rs 3 lakh in connection with the treatment of one Gouranga Mohan Sarkar, a resident of the city. The hospital had charged the patient Rs 7 lakh for the overall stay of 20 days. He was also a Covid patient. The patient remained at the hospital from July 22 to August 14. The Commission found the bill inflated and asked the hospital authorities to return Rs 3 lakh.
In another incident the WBCERC asked the Desun Hospital to return Rs 50,000 to the family members of one Sangita Shikaria who was charged Rs 1.8 lakh for her stay of around 35 hours. She was admitted on August 12.
The Commission also sought an affidavit from AMRI Mukundapur hospital and ILS Dum Dum after two 10-year-old boys died in two separate incidents. In the case of AMRI, the patient, Parnasubhra Ganguly, a resident of Konnagar in Hooghly was admitted to the hospital with occasional common cold. He was taken by his parents for routine check up and was admitted on July 8. The patient died on July 12.
The other boy Akash Das, a resident of Dum Dum was admitted to the ILS Hospital Dum Dum with vomiting and throat pain. He complained about breathing trouble and his oxygen saturation dropped. The patient later died in the hospital. The hospital claimed that the patient's condition was so critical that he could not be shifted to another set up.
