Regulatory Commission asks Apollo to waive off Rs 9.5L from patient's bill

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Wednesday directed the Apollo Gleneagles hospital to waive off half of the total bill of a 62-year-old patient by providing a discount of Rs 9.5 lakh.

The private hospital has also been urged to provide instalment facilities to the patients, who find it difficult to pay huge amounts in one go.

"The hospital has agreed to our request and they have discounted half of the total bill. If the family members can pay Rs 6 lakh within a year, they are not required to pay the total Rs 9.5 lakh that has been fixed after the discount. We have requested the hospital authorities on humanitarian grounds and they have agreed," said WBCERC Chairperson, Justice (retired) Ashim Kumar Banerjee.

The patient, Deepak Kumar Sarkar, a resident of Cossipore was admitted to the hospital on September 16 after he suffered a stroke. The patient had neurological problems. Sarkar was in the hospital for 73 days.

The family members of the patient alleged that the hospital did not release the patient despite repeated appeals. But, the hospital authorities have accused the family members of not contacting the hospital for a long time.

A case was registered at the local police station after both the parties accused one another of assault.

The hospital later called up the family members and said the patient was stable and he could be released. The hospital charged a bill of Rs 38 lakh but the family members failed to pay the entire amount.

An amount of Rs 19 lakh was still due with the hospital. A complaint was lodged with the Commission in this regard.

In another incident, the Commission has instructed Medica Hospital to provide a discount of Rs 1.50 lakh to the family members of Prava Baidh (61), who was admitted to the hospital on August 10. She was under treatment till September 3.

She had to be put under ECMO support. The hospital had fixed a bill of Rs 25.87 lakh. The patient was later shifted to another private hospital. The Commission found that the patient was excessively charged.

Shree Jain Hospital in Howrah has been asked to refund Rs 10,000 to a patient for shifting a Covid patient to another hospital without initial treatment. Dr Lal Path Labs have been instructed to refund Rs 5,000 as it goofed up over preparing Covid report.