kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Friday directed Apollo Gleneagles Hospital to provide a compensation of Rs 15 lakh and to waive Rs 25 lakh out of the total bill of Rs 32 lakh in connection with an incident, in which a 77-year-old woman died after she fell from the bed while being under treatment in the hospital.
The patient's family members were asked by the Commission to pay the dues of around Rs 7 lakh out of the total bill of Rs 32 lakh.
The hospital will only charge for the treatment until the day when the patient had fallen from the bed.
Patient had been suffering from various complications. The postmortem report of the patient revealed head injuries and sepsis as immediate cause of the patient's death.
The patient, Goyeswari Haldar, was admitted to the hospital on March 23.
The patient had earlier been admitted to the same hospital 20 times in the past 3 to 4 years.
She was undergoing treatment at the hospital for various ailments.
On April 13, the woman fell from a hospital bed and suffered a femur bone fracture and head injuries. A surgery was conducted on the patient but she eventually died on May 23.
The hospital had demanded a bill of Rs 32 lakh, which the patient's son, Shyamal, refused to pay.
Haldar also filed a criminal case against the hospital. The hospital authorities said they had provided treatment to the patient throughout the entire period of her stay.
The hospital was also asked to pay compensation of Rs 15 lakh for their negligence. The hospital had urged the Commission to convince the patient's son to withdraw the criminal case.
The Commission said the criminal case would continue in the court in the normal course.