Hosp lowers bill after MLA intervenes
Kolkata: Madhyamgram MLA Rathin Ghosh who is popular among the people under his constituency for his philanthropic zeal, once again turned savior for a family that had failed to release a patient from a private hospital due to the non-payment of bills.
Narayana Multispecialty Hospital at Barasat, the clinical establishment in question has lowered the bill amount by more than Rs 3 lakh following the intervention of Ghosh who had urged the hospital authorities to consider the case on humanitarian grounds.
The hospital also responded to the MLA's call and released the patient.
The patient, Somnath Nandi suffered multiple injuries after he had a fall inside the bathroom nearly a month ago.
He was immediately taken to the private hospital in Madhyamgram. According to the patients' family members, as the health condition did not improve, the patient was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Hospital and had been kept under ventilation. The family members initially paid around Rs 5 lakh to the hospital but they later found it difficult to arrange more funds. Therefore they decided to shift the patient to another hospital.
The private hospital had prepared a total bill of Rs 8.50
lakh out of which around Rs 5 lakh the patient party had already paid.
The family found it extremely difficult to pay the remaining amount. The hospital authorities clearly stated that they would not be able to release the patient if the family members do not clear the dues.
"We found that the bill kept mounting and the patient required further treatment. We wanted to shift the patient but the hospital denied it as we failed to pay dues. Due to the intervention of Ghosh, the hospital lowered the amount by Rs 3 lakh. The patient was finally shifted to Dum Dum Municipal Hospital," said Santanu Nandi, patient's son.
When contacted Ghosh said: "We have contacted the senior officials of the hospital and
told them that patient's family members are unable to pay
the total amount. We also requested them to consider
the matter on humanitarian ground. They have kept our request."
