In a first, state health panel to audit all bills prepared by Fortis Hosp last month

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) may take stern administrative action against Fortis Hospital for exorbitantly charging patients repeatedly, flouting its advisories. In a first, an inspection team will be sent to Fortis by the WBCERC to conduct an audit after examining all the bills prepared by the hospital for the past one month.

This is for the first time that the WBCERC is set to send an inspection team to any private hospital in the city to verify bills. The decision has been taken after the WBCERC found that Fortis has been repeatedly flouting the advisory of the Commission and overcharging patients. The WBCERC had also imposed a penalty on the hospital recently in this regard.

"We will send an inspection team to the hospital. It will carry out an audit after going through the bills prepared by the hospital in the last one month. The team will then submit a report to the Commission on the basis of which administrative steps may be taken against the hospital authorities," WBCERC Chairperson Justice (retired) Ashim Kumar Banerjee said.

The WBCERC has issued a number of advisories to all private hospitals giving a detailed outline as to what they should have done while handling patients and various rate charts have been fixed by the regulating body. Despite such advisories, patients' family members often accuse private hospitals of overcharging them.

For instance, the WBCERC heard a case on Tuesday in which a complainant, Imam Hossain told the Commission that his patient Nabizan Bibi, a 69-year-old woman was excessively charged. The patient, a resident of Bihar, was admitted to Fortis Hospital with multiple ailments on January 28. The patient was under treatment at the hospital for 42 days following which she was shifted to another hospital. The hospital asked her family members to pay the remaining portion of the bill of around Rs 18.65 lakh.

After examining the bills, the Commission found that the hospital had administered many high-priced drugs to the patient violating the advisory of the WBCERC. The Fortis Hospital has been asked to give a discount of over Rs 2 lakh to the patient's family members and they will enjoy the privilege of paying the amount in instalments. The hospital had prepared a total bill of over Rs 24 lakh out of which around Rs 5 lakh had been paid by the patient's kin.