Life Line Diagnostic Centre fined Rs 50K for negligence

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission on Friday imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Life Line Diagnostic Centre in Dum Dum for negligence.

According to WBCERC, Biswaran Ghosh, a local resident took a 69-year-old woman, a chronic kidney disease patient to the Life Line Diagnostic Centre with respiratory distress. The woman was earlier admitted to the same hospital on two occasions and treated by Dr SK Bhowmick. When the patient was taken for the last time, she was denied treatment by the private hospital saying that Dr Bhowmick was on leave. The family members of the patients pleaded for emergency treatment at the hospital but the patient was allegedly kept untreated for one hour. The patient was later taken to another private hospital in Salt Lake where she died eventually.

WBCERC chairman Justice (retired) Ashim Banerjee said that a hospital cannot deny emergency treatment to a patient only because the doctor who had earlier treated her was on leave. “It was uncalled for. The hospital said that they have suspended the receptionist. A hospital with a capacity of 55 beds should have more than one RMO.

We have imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the hospital and asked it to provide another Rs 50,000 to a local girls’ school so that a classroom can be dedicated in memory of the woman,” Banerjee said.