How Can a Hospital Charge Rs 50,000 for a 49-Minute ICU Stay? Regulatory Commission Slams CMRI Hospital
Kolkata: Holding that the billing was "inflated and unacceptable", a private hospital has been directed by the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) to refund the charges levied on a patient who spent only 49 minutes in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) before passing away.
As per the TOI report, the patient, who had been admitted to BM Birla Heart Research Hospital in December due to cardiac issues, later developed pneumonia. Pulmonologists from CMRI Hospital, located within the same medical complex, examined him and recommended his transfer to their facility. He was shifted to CMRI on December 30, 2024.
According to the WBCERC observation, although the patient was admitted to CMRI at 1:40 PM, he was moved to the ICU only at 5 PM. Unfortunately, he passed away 49 minutes after being shifted to the ICU. Despite the short duration of care, the hospital billed the family Rs 50,030 for ICU treatment.
The deceased patient’s family sought an explanation for the charges and requested a refund. However, they were initially asked to obtain a lawyer’s letter to proceed with their grievance. Frustrated, they filed a complaint with the WBCERC on February 19.
Following the commission’s intervention, CMRI Hospital claimed that it had already decided to refund Rs 11,000 and had attempted to contact the patient’s family. However, the commission remained dissatisfied with the explanation provided by the hospital.
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Justice (Retd) Ashim Kumar Banerjee, Chairman of WBCERC, questioned;
“We are not at all impressed with the hospital’s response. How can a hospital charge Rs 50,000 for treating a patient for 49 minutes?”
“Even though he was in the ICU for less than an hour, the hospital ran up a bill of Rs 50,030. The hospital also charged Rs 11,875 as an emergency bill and Rs 1,800 for an ambulance to transfer the patient to CMRI, which happens to be inside the same campus. We have asked the hospital to retain Rs 20,000 and return the rest of the amount to the complainant.”
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