Bihar Legislative Council launches investigation on Paras HMRI Hospital on allegations of overcharging, negligence

According to a recent report by the Hindustan Times, as per the directions issued by the Working Chairman of Legislative Council Awadhesh Narayan Singh, a five-member committee of the council would now investigate the allegations related to medical negligence and the management charging patients an exorbitant amount of money for treatment.

This development comes after during a zero hour question, JD(U) member Sanjeev Shaym Singh raised the issue concerning the death of a 17-year-old youth, who was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of fever.

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Hindustan Times reports that the boy died on Monday due to medical negligence on the part of the treating doctors and other staff, Singh had alleged before the Council.

The daily further adds that all the Council members supported the cause and rising over the party lines, they requested the chairman to take note of the incident. In fact, the members of the house further claimed that fleecing unsuspecting people has become a daily affair at private hospitals.

Members of the house including Sanjay Singh, Neeraj Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar Singh, Ghulam Gaus (all of JD-U), Nawal Kishore Yadav of BJP and Ram Chandra Purbe of RJD requested a thorough probe into the matter. Following this, the Working Chairman ordered a five-member committee of the council to investigate the issue.

Unwilling to consider this as a really serious development, a senior official at the Council Secretariat, however, told HT, "Appointment of the committee members would be notified by the Council secretariat later. The inquiry committee announced during the Budget session to probe allegations of commercial use of the Bihar Vidyapeeth, founded by Mahatma Gandhi, has not yet been constituted."

Meanwhile, while commenting on the matter, Dr. Asif Rahman, medical superintendent of Paras hospital, said, "We provide unmatched healthcare services to all our patients. We regret the passing away of the patient whom we tried to provide the best possible service too. A multidisciplinary team of doctors along with the ICU team treated the patient. There has been no lapse from our side. As a responsible healthcare provider of the state, we will cooperate in making the process of investigation smoother."

Paras HMRI hospital was the same hospital that had bagged the 'Best Patient Friendly Hospital' award at the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI) Awards ceremony back in 2016. The award was won post a detailed facility assessment and inspection of the hospital processes by the representatives of AHPI.