State Health body orders Narayan Memorial Hosp to bill patient at Swasthya Sathi rate

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Friday directed Narayan Memorial Hospital to prepare a bill for a patient as per the Swasthya Sathi rate.

The WBCERC Chairperson, Justice (retired) Ashim Banerjee, said that the hospital treated the patient in the emergency ward as a cash patient. It was alleged that the hospital refused to consider the patient under Swasthya Sathi.

The hospital authorities told the commission that the patient’s family members did not mention that they had a Swasthya Sathi card. The family members told the hospital about the Swasthya Sathi card four days after the patient was taken to the hospital. The hospital charged the patient more than Rs 2 lakh for the initial treatment before the case was converted to Swasthya Sathi.

Later, a surgical intervention was carried out on the patient under Swasthya Sathi. The WBCERC has urged the hospital to revoke the bill charged as a cash patient and prepare a fresh bill as per the Swasthya Sathi rate.

The WBCERC earlier imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Woodlands Hospital after a doctor from the hospital suddenly withdrew from the treatment of a patient midway. The doctor had urged submitted a clarificatory note and appealed for a consideration. But the Commission has rejected the review application.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission, on Thursday came across a unique case in which a doctor who went to Narayana Superspecialty hospital in Howrah for treatment accused another doctor of the hospital of crushing his mobile phone following a heated altercation.

After hearing the matter, the WBCERC asked the hospital authorities to bring it to the notice of the hospital group Chairman Dr Devi Shetty. The commission also observed that the accused hospital doctor who allegedly crushed the mobile phone of another doctor who had stepped into the hospital for treatment, should pay an amount of Rs 15,000 to the victim as compensation.