The hospitals have been told to reconsider their bills and to initiate a refund of the additional amount charged. 90 percent of the hospitals have agreed to return the extra amount as suggested by the expert panel.
As per a recent media report, authorities received complaints of overcharging from patients after which they constituted an expert panel to examine the allegations of discrepancies in the billing process. The committee included Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation commissioner Mahendra Singh Tanwar, the then chief medical officer NK Gupta and chief treasury officer Laxmi Mishra.
Times of India reports that the authorities directed the hospitals to return the excess amount and gave them time till June 25 to comply with the order. Though 90% of the facilities have agreed and returned the extra amount, many hospitals are yet to deliver the excess amount. The remaining hospitals have been given a chance again to rectify them before the final report is submitted by the panel.
"We audited five bills each of the maximum amounts from 35 hospitals and found discrepancies in most of them. No punitive action has been taken, but the centres have been asked to reconsider the bills and return the additional amounts to patients. The process is yet to be completed. The panel will compile the hospitals' replies and submit the final report to the administration," Tanwar said.
Ashish Agarwal, IMA president, Ghaziabad chapter, told Times of India, "About 90% of the hospitals have complied with the committee's order and returned the differential amount. The remaining facilities are looking into the matter. A sub-divisional magistrate has been appointed to hear the hospitals' grievances and those who have any queries have met the officials for clarification."
According to the daily, the administration and IMA both are considering the chances of an impending third wave of COVID, hence, they are trying to resolve the issue in a cooperative and peaceful manner. Referring to the take against hospitals as 'arm-twisting' measures, IMA advised a peaceful resolution as 'harassment' would discourage hospitals from treating Covid patients in the future.
After the formation of the panel, the health department had received more than 20 complaints of overcharging by patients' families and after the scrutiny, the private hospitals have returned over Rs 10 lakh.
On the other hand, the pandemic grievance committee in Noida received a total of 79 complaints. However, among them, only 30 complaints including 15 cases of medical negligence and 15 cases of overcharging were found genuine. The others could not justify their merit or were minor cases which the hospital and the patient settled between themselves, said officials.
12 private hospitals have been directed to initiate a refund of almost Rs 40 lakh to patients after rectification of bills over the past two months.
"There were complaints against almost every private facility notified as a Covid hospital. We issued notices in 30 cases and they have all been resolved. No new complaint has been received," said Dr Anil Gupta, nodal officer for the committee. He added that four complaints were received through the state IGRS portal but those remain unresolved till now. "There is a meeting next week to discuss those as well," said Dr Gupta.
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