KOLKATA: After finding several infrastructural inadequacies in three private hospitals run by a particular group in the city, West Bengal Clinical Establishment and Regulatory Commission ( WBCERC) has decided to submit a report in this regard to the Health department, which would decide upon their closure.
The Commission is upset with Good Samaritan, Apex Hospital and Ujjivan Hospital as they lack basic infrastructure. The Commission has also received plaints regarding overbilling against them.
It also directed the hospital group to deposit about Rs 15 lakh with it till all the cases against these establishments are disposed off. The WBCERC, however, allowed them to operate during the pandemic.
The hospital group has agreed to pay the amount within the next couple of days. The WBCERC earlier sent inspection teams to these hospitals and found serious infrastructural lapses. It later imposed some conditions on the hospitals to admit patients.
There is no lift in Ujjivan Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital and serious patients have to take the staircase.
Chairperson of WBCERC, Justice (retired) Ashim Banerjee, said: "We heard 14 complaints regarding these hospitals. There are significant infrastructural deficiencies. Staff is not highly skilled and nurses are not eligible to do what they are doing. We had stopped admission of patients initially but later permitted them to admit patients on some conditions. Many billing issues also came up. They have already offered money to five out of 14 complainants. In one case, they have agreed to return Rs 50,000. We reserve our judgment. We will, however, submit a report to the Health department."
"One Punit Kajaria, a patient, was charged Rs 1 lakh for one day. When he was discharged, the hospital returned only Rs 20,000. As the matter came up, the hospital has now refunded Rs 70,000 to the patient," Banerjee said.