Two private hospitals in Gujarat fined Rs 5 lakh each on COVID-19 treatment violations

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The hospitals will lose their registration if they fail to deposit the sum within seven days, it said.

To ease the burden on government-run hospitals, the civic body has roped in 40-odd private hospitals to treat coronavirus patients.

As per the agreement, these designated hospitals are required to reserve 50 per cent of their beds for patients referred to them by the AMC and are not supposed to charge them for treatment.

They can, however, charge a stipulated fee from other private patients, who can be accommodated on the remaining 50 per cent beds, the release said.

However, authorities found that despite availability of AMC quota beds, Artham Hospital had refused to accommodate a patient referred by the civic body, claiming that all beds were occupied, it stated.

Moreover, a probe revealed that the hospital was using AMC quota beds for other private patients and charging them.

As per the release, Bodyline Hospital had charged fees from patients referred by the AMC and had taken Rs 4,500 from a person as testing fees.

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