‘ILS Hosp exercises muscle power as kin fails to clear dues’
For the first time in the history of the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC), it has come across a case in which ILS Hospital in Dum Dum allegedly exercised muscle power and engaged police to heckle the family members who were unable to release their patient due to their failure to pay the dues of Rs 5.26 lakh. The WBCERC warned the hospital that it should not indulge in such ‘uncalled for incidents in future’.
“Before this incident, we did not come across such a case where the hospital allegedly exercised muscle power on the patient’s family. It was alleged that the hospital took policemen to the house of the patient and attacked them. They shouted at their house that tarnished the image of the family. During the hearing, the hospital did not convincingly refute the allegation,” WBCERC chairperson Justice (retired) Ashim Banerjee.
An elderly man was admitted to the ILS Dum Dum. The patient’s son Souvik Chatterjee, a complaint in this case who was outside the state for professional reasons, told the family not to admit the patient to a private hospital due to financial issues. The patient was however admitted to the hospital as it was in close proximity from the house.
The patient has been undergoing treatment for the past few days and the bill shot up to Rs 5.26 lakh. The patient party had paid Rs 30,000. The WBCERC in its order froze the bill at Rs 4.30 lakh and therefore the hospital will only carry out routine treatment till the moment he is in the hospital. The commission ordered a discount on the bill.
The WBCERC asked Chatterjee either to pay Rs 4 lakh to the hospital and take the patient or they will be given an option of paying Rs 1 lakh by Wednesday and release the patient while remaining Rs 3.5 lakh has to be paid in instalments of Rs 50,000 in a month. The patient party will have to pay the amount with 7 per cent interest if they fail to pay the installments. The patient’s family has said that they will take the patient on Wednesday with a payment of Rs 1 lakh.
