KOLKATA: A six-member team of West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) visited three private hospitals, which were on Monday directed by the Commission to stop admission of Covid patients after allegations of overcharging surfaced against them.
The team on Wednesday visited the hospitals to monitor the situation. When the team was holding a meeting with the senior officials of the Apex Clinic in Behala, family members of three Covid infected patients rushed to the room where the meeting was going on and requested the committee members to admit their patients. A relative of a patient touched the feet of a committee member and fervently requested them for a bed.
The family members said they were told by the hospital authorities that the WBCERC stopped admission as a result the hospital would not be able to admit any infected patients. The family members of the three infected patients said their patients required urgent admission and they failed to get a bed at other hospitals. After considering their appeal, the WBCERC directed the hospital to admit the three patients, mentioning that the hospitals would not be able to admit other patients as the restrictions were not withdrawn yet.
The team visited the hospital as the WBCERC received several complaints against the hospital. There are around 40 critical care beds in the Apex Clinic. WBCERC on Monday directed Apex Clinic in Behala, Good Samaritan Hospital in Park Circus and Ujjivan in New Town not to admit patients after allegations of overcharging surfaced. These private hospitals have already been asked to submit some bills to the Commission on a random basis. The WBCERC will go through the bills and then decide the future course of action.