Woodlands Hospital asked to pay a compensation of Rs 50K

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has directed the Apollo Gleneagles Hospital to withdraw a police case filed against the family members of a patient for the non-payment of around Rs 2.87 lakh out of the total bill of Rs 9.87 lakh.

Following the complaint by the private hospital, an arrest warrant was also issued against the family members of the patient despite paying Rs 7 lakh to the hospital. The Commission said that Prasenjit Karmakar, a resident of Garia, admitted his son Durbar Karmakar (21), an epilepsy patient to Fortis Hospital where the family had spent Rs 5 lakh. Fortis told them that they

would not be able to perform surgery.

The patient was shifted to the Apollo hospital where the surgery was conducted. The hospital had asked the family members to pay Rs 9.87 lakh. The family members paid Rs 7 lakh and later issued a cheque which was dishonored. This had prompted the hospital authorities to lodge a police complaint.

"We have asked the hospital to withdraw the police complaint. Patient's father had a travel agency business. The patient's mother said that after the lockdown her husband has been facing financial difficulties as the business came to a standstill. We have urged the hospital to waive the

remaining Rs 2.87 lakh," said WBCERC Chairperson Justice (retired) Ashim Kumar Banerjee.

In two separate incidents the Commission asked Woodlands Hospital to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to one BK Guha who was asked to leave after he tested positive. It has also directed Fortis Hospital to provide a discount of Rs 50,000 to a patient Mousumi Chakraborty.

The WBCERC has already heard almost all the pending cases. The Commission had set a target to address all the complaints which were registered with it.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Wednesday issued a fresh advisory to the private hospitals restricting the bed charges.

The advisory number 18 says that if it is found that a patient spends one an hour or two extra on the day of discharge, he/she needs not to pay any bed charges on that day. If the patient spends around 6 hours extra, he/she will pay ¼ of the bed charges or if he/she spends less than 12 hours extra, the hospitals can take only ½ of the bed charges.