Commission seeks details on rate chart, treatment costs from top 6 pvt hosps

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Friday asked six private hospitals — Apollo Gleneagles, Fortis Hospital at Anandapur, Ruby Hospital, AMRI Mukundapur, CMRI and Desun to file an affidavit to the Commission within September 25 stating if they have put up the rate chart and the treatment costs at strategic points inside the hospital premises as advised by the panel.

The WBCERC has also registered a suo-motu complaint against the hospitals after it came to know through a media report that these hospitals have not yet put up the rate chart and treatment cost on display. The matter would be heard by the regulatory body on September 25. WBCERC earlier in its advisory number 15 had already instructed all the private hospitals to demonstrate the fee structure and the costs of treatment in a place easily visible by the patients coming for in-house or OPD treatment.

"All the clinical establishments must display the rate chart giving all break-ups of the service charges that the clinical establishment would levy on the patients visiting the hospitals for OPD and/or in-house treatment. Such display must be clearly visible or read," states the advisory 15.

The Commission also categorically pointed out in its advisory that the fee structure and the costs of treatment must be put on display at the reception desk, cash counter and entry points. There was a clear instruction that people coming to the hospitals for treatment should be able to easily see the costs of treatment.

In another development, the WBCERC on Friday issued an order in connection with an incident in which Ruby Hospital demanded Rs 6.17 lakh from the family members of an 84-year-old woman who died of Covid. The family members of the deceased raised the issue with the Commission and stated that they would not be able to pay the amount and also sought a negotiation in the final payment. Complainant Ratan Majumdar, the deceased's son-in-law, told the Commission that they had paid Rs 2.25 lakh as advance and they also paid Rs 76,000 as medicine bills to the hospital pharmacy. The patient party urged the Commission that they had faced difficulties in arranging funds and it was not possible for them to pay the remaining amount of the bill. After hearing the matter, the Commission passed the order saying that the patient party would repay a total Rs 1.20 lakh to the hospital with an installment of Rs 5,000 per month.

The Commission also asked Narayan Memorial Hospital in Behala to file an affidavit stating the details about the treatment of a 36-year-old woman from Jadavpur who died due to alleged medical negligence. The hospital claimed that the woman collapsed after she was administered iron infusion. The Commission also sought necessary evidence in this connection.

The Commission also referred a medical negligence case each against KPC Medical College and Apollo Gleneagles to the West Bengal Medical Council.