Overcharging: Fortis Hospital to refund Rs 2L, fined Rs 50K for defying norms
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Kolkata: Cracking a whip on a private hospital for overcharging a patient, the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Monday directed the hospital to refund Rs. 2 lakh to a patient. The hospital was also fined Rs 50,000 for violating the advisories of the Commission for the fifth time.
WBCERC Chairperson Justice (retired) Ashim Banerjee stated that the hospital has previously also received notices for flouting advisories while charging its patients. In this case, the commission noticed that the patient was charged Rs 10 Lakh for medicines alone.
The patient to question the Fortis Hospital (Anandapur) is a 52-year-old resident of Barrackpore. She was admitted to the hospital on May 19 in 2021 and stayed there till June 17. She had been under treated at the hospital for 29 days. However, after her release, the hospital handed over a bill of Rs 23.64 lakh. Finding the bill exorbitant, the patient approached WBCERC and filed a case against the facility.
The patient had to pay 60 per cent of the cost of the treatment and the rest was paid by the insurance company. The patient was charged Rs 10 lakh for medicines, Rs 4.5 lakh for investigations and Rs 2 lakh for consumables. However, after investigating the matter, the commission found out that Rs 3.30 lakh was excessively charged and while preparing the bill ,the hospital did not follow the hospital advisories.
As the patient only paid 60 per cent of the total bill, the Commission has asked the hospital to refund Rs 2 lakh. A fine of Rs 50,000 was also imposed on the hospital for not following the rules while preparing the bill. The WBCERC had previously issued advisories to cap various rates and made the discounts of medicines and consumables mandatory. " A costly test was performed on the patient without the written permission of the patient's family members. On May 23rd a blood-related test was conducted 4 times. When we contacted the principal doctor, a pulmonologist, he also stated that he did not know about the test as the patient was in ICU", added Mr. Banerjee.
Stating that the 50000 fine will also go to the patient's party, Mr. Banerjee further stated, " Normally the fine goes to the commission fund but in this case, the patient stated that she had to face financial brunt due to the excessive billing. She also appealed for the fine by stating that her daughter is to be married soon but the treatment has drained them of financial resources. Hence, we have decided to pay her the fine money also out of compassion."
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