Kolkata: The West Bengal
Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has directed the Directorate of
Health Services (DHS) to constitute a high-level committee to scrutinise a bill issued
by a private hospital after observing that the charges were “unethically” high.
The case involves a private hospital that has presented a bill amounting to Rs. 26,64,000 for the treatment of an
elderly patient who remained admitted for 33 days. Following its preliminary findings, the commission instructed the hospital to deposit the full billed
amount with the authority until a final decision is delivered in the matter.Also Read:West Bengal nursing home fined Rs 10 lakh in maternal death caseThe patient has been
identified as a 50-year-old female from Konnagar, and she was admitted to ILS
Hospital, Howrah, on Dec 14 last year in a critical condition. The patient died
33 days later, and the hospital furnished a staggering bill of over Rs
26,64,000. The patient’s family was satisfied with the treatment, but approached
the commission regarding the hefty bill.
Justice (Retd) Asim Kumar
Banerjee, chairman, WBCERC, said, “The hospital charged almost Rs 80,000 per day
despite the patient having no surgical intervention, but only a few small
procedures. The visits of the doctors alone cost Rs 2,41,000. Even charges for
medicine and the investigative tests are extremely high. We also found that the
medicine and consumables alone were billed at over Rs 11 lakh. We do not think
such a high bill is justified.”
Earlier, the commission
asked the hospital to settle the matter by incorporating a reasonable amount of
discount. The commission suggested to keep each day charge at Rs 50000. However,
the hospital refunded a sum of only Rs 39,000 to the family, which the
commission observed was not enough.Also Read:Commission under WB clinical establishments Act can decide on deficiency of service: SC on medical negligence cases”During COVID, such
an issue of overbilling surfaced in ILS Dumdum, where one medical professional
was undergoing treatment, and the issue was picked up by various media outlets.
It is surprising that such a staggering bill has again been charged by the same
facility. We will deal with this issue with zero tolerance. We have asked the
DHS to constitute an expert committee, including medical experts, who will investigate the bill thoroughly to determine the amount that should actually be charged, and in
case of inconsistencies, the excess amount will be refunded to the complainant.
Until the report of analysis is out and the trail concludes, the hospital will
deposit the entire amount in the bank as a fixed deposit,” added Banerjee.