WBCERC Seeks 3 Years of Swasthya Sathi Patient Data from Private Hospitals
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Kolkata: To prevent overcharging by private hospitals, the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Monday requested data from hospitals for the past three years to determine the number of Swasthya Sathi patients treated at private healthcare facilities.
The direction came following complaints from patients about inflated bills for surgeries and other amenities in private hospitals.
According to the PTI report, the Commission's Chairman, Justice (Retired) Asim Bandyopadhyay, told reporters that representatives of 47 private healthcare facilities attended a meeting during the day, and several issues were discussed.
An official of the Commission said that the hospitals have been asked to re-evaluate the expenses incurred by the patients for treatment and related diagnostic tests to ensure there is no overcharging.
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"The commission has asked for details about the number of 'Swasthya Sathi' beneficiaries in the past three years, keeping in account the total number of available beds and how many have availed the Swasthya Sathi scheme and reward those having delivered maximum service under the project," the official said.
The Commission recommended keeping 10 per cent of total beds in a healthcare facility reserved under Swasthya Sathi, the official said.
As the issue of inflated bills was raised in the meeting, the Commission asked the private hospitals to keep a tab on bills.
In response, one of the participating private hospitals suggested that the commission fix the rate of medical expenses for each case.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that, 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.
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