Covid test: Regulatory body issues guideline for diagnostic centres
Kolkata: West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Wednesday has issued a detailed guideline for the private hospitals and diagnostic centres after it found that various types of errors occur in the pathological reports quite often. This often leads to complications for the patients.
The WBCERC felt the necessity of formulating a new guideline in this regard after it came across a number of mistakes in the pathological reports. While hearing a case the Commission found that Medica Hospital issued a wrong D-dimer report to a 38-year-old woman who along with her husband was undergoing treatment at home isolation after being infected with Covid. The D-dimer report showed the figure 41,031 which was wrongly written. The actual figure would be 410.32. The couple's 15-year-old daughter who was taking care of her parents fainted after seeing the report. The girl was taken to a hospital by the neighbours. Following the doctor's advice the woman Sushama Misra (38) again had undergone D-dimer tests from another centre. The WBCERC has instructed the Medica Hospital to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to the family and also asked the hospital to return the cost of the both the tests.
Bhagirathi Neotia Women and Chile care Centre had wrongly done the TSH report of one Nusrat Hossain (40) a resident of Mominpur. The patient had done the test from another diagnostic centre. The WBCERC felt that the hospital authorities should have done a repeat test free of cost when the first report was erroneous. The commission had received a total 7 complaints on Wednesday out of which 4 were pathological errors while the remaining 3 radiological reports. The commission has engaged a top radiologist to look into them.
In its latest guideline, the Commission said that in case of typographical mistakes it would impose fine on the hospitals or diagnostic centres. They must be more cautious while typing the reports as an error can put the life of a patient in jeopardy. The pathologists must recheck and physically verify the report before putting his/her signature which could check the mistakes. If there is any mechanical error, the centres must do the repeat tests at free of cost and they should also refund the cost of the test. If the patient performs the test from outside the earlier hospital or diagnostic centre has to provide the cost as well.
In another development, the WBCERC also asked BP Poddar Hospital to return Rs 1,25,000 within a month to the family members of a patient who was exorbitantly charged. The patient Rabindra Kumar Chopra remained at the hospital from July 21 till July 29. They were asked to pay a bill of Rs 4,32,000. Bed charges were Rs 7,000 per day while isolation charge and Covid protection charges were Rs 5,000 and Rs 5,050 per day respectively. The hospital has agreed to pay the amount.
