Regulatory body asks pvt hosp to provide compensation for overcharging patient

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has asked Horizon Life Line Hospital on CIT road to provide compensation to the family members of two patients in separate incidents after it was found that the private hospital had excessively charged in both the cases.

Vijay Kumar Jaiswal, a resident of Beliaghata was admitted to the hospital with various ailments on October 26 last year and released on November 6. The hospital had charged Rs 4.58 lakh. During hearing, the Commission found that the patient was exorbitantly charged.

The patient's family paid the entire bill amount. In another incident the same private hospital was directed to compensate the family members of Dipti Bhattacharya (73), resident of the city who died in the hospital May few days after her admission.

The family members alleged that the hospital delayed the dialysis. No proper treatment was provided by the hospital. Bhattacharya was admitted to the hospital with nephrological issues.

The Commission found that the patient was excessively charged and it has therefore asked the hospital to compensate the deceased family with Rs 94,000. The hospital had charged a bill of Rs 6.4 lakh.

In another hearing, the WBCERC has asked Glocal Hospital in West Midnapore to compensate a patient with Rs 2 lakh after the hospital failed to submit its explanation to the Commission regarding the treatment of a patient identified as Goutam Mahato. In a previous hearing the Commission found that the hospital did not have proper infrastructure and asked to provide a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the patient's family. The hospital had adhered to the instruction but did not provide explanation to the Commission.

The Commission has heard another case in which Ruby Hospital was accused of not accepting central health schemes.

A patient, Sarita Ranjan Sengupta (76), a retired Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) employee was admitted to the hospital in December last year when he was told by the hospital that they did not have any tie up the DVC but in reality the tie up existed till February 2021. The patient died on December 16 and the family members released the body after paying the total bill amount.

The WBCERC observed that the patient was entitled to get cashless benefits. The hospital has been directed to prepare a new bill and submit it to the DVC. After the reimbursement by the DVC, if it found that the patient party had paid more than the amount reimbursed, the hospital would refund the differential amount.