Regulatory body asks pvt hosp to return Rs 1.7L to patient's family

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Friday has instructed the BP Poddar Hospital to return Rs 1.7 lakh after the hospital authorities failed to produce the bill to the commission.

In the complaint registered by the family members of an elderly patient, it was claimed that the hospital did not provide them any bill. The commission gave the hospital a month time to produce the bill. But the private hospital authorities finally told the WBCERC that they lost the bill. The Commission however apprehends that what the patients' family members claimed might have been correct.

The patient was admitted to the hospital with Covid on July 11 and she was released on July 19. The patient party was charged Rs 3.5 lakh but no bill was issued as claimed by the family members of the patient. After hearing the case the WBCERC asked the hospital authorities to pay back Rs 1.7 lakh to the patient's family members while the hospital would keep the remaining amount of Rs 1.8 lakh.

In another incident, the same hospital has been directed by the WBCERC to refund Rs 14,000 to the relatives of a patient who was charged Rs 28,901 as non medical expenses most of the amount was taken on account of PPE charges which the commission found somewhat unusual. The hospital clarified that the charges were made before the commission had issued directives in this regard.

The WBCER also asked We Care Hospital in Hooghly and Pine Hospital in the city to seek an apology from a WBCS officer with whom the both the hospital had misbehaved. The officer had admitted his elderly father to We Care Hospital first where the patient was put inside a chilling ICU.

The patient later got infected with Covid. His son claimed that it might have been infected from the ICU or dialysis unit. The commission did not find any authentic evidence to support the claim. The patient was later shifted to the other hospital where the staff members alleged misbehaved with them as well.

In another development the WBCERC asked RN Tagore Hospital to pay back Rs 1,700 collected from a patient as PSA test charge.

The commission found that the hospital had carried out the test from another diagnostic center at the cost of Rs 760. But they charged the patient Rs 1,700 which is much higher than the cost in a top private diagnostic center in the city. The hospital claimed that they did the test from outside as their machine was not functioning.

Health Care Nursing Home in Kalyani has been asked to give a compensation of Rs 25,000 to a patient after

some medical negligence was found.