WBCERC fines private hospital Rs 9 lakh for medical negligence, another told to refund Rs 80000 for overbilling

Kolkata: Cracking a whip on two private hospitals, the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has asked the facilities to pay Rs 9 lakh and Rs 80000 after finding them guilty of medical negligence and overbilling, respectively.

The first case is connected to Aragya Niketan Hospital of Uttarpara, West Bengal, where a 26-year-old female underwent treatment for dengue. According to the chairperson of the commission, retired judge Ashim Banerjee, the young woman was admitted to the hospital on September 28 and stayed there till October 2 last year. Her platelet count came down abruptly and she was taken to a private hospital in Kolkata on October 3, where she died within a few hours.

" The medical experts of the commission found the hospital guilty of medical negligence as there was an interpolation in the platelet records with a pen. When the commission questioned the pathologist about it, he stated accepted that the numbers were indeed changed with a pen. As an explanation, he said that the machine and manual counts were different and so a hospital employee had made corrections with a pen. However, there were no initials with the correction", added Mr Banerjee.