West Bengal Health Panel orders probe into Rs 26.6 lakh hospital bill for 33 days
Sessions court verdict
Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has directed the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) to constitute a high-level committee to scrutinise a bill issued by a private hospital after observing that the charges were “unethically” high.
The case involves a private hospital that has presented a bill amounting to Rs. 26,64,000 for the treatment of an elderly patient who remained admitted for 33 days. Following its preliminary findings, the commission instructed the hospital to deposit the full billed amount with the authority until a final decision is delivered in the matter.
The patient has been identified as a 50-year-old female from Konnagar, and she was admitted to ILS Hospital, Howrah, on Dec 14 last year in a critical condition. The patient died 33 days later, and the hospital furnished a staggering bill of over Rs 26,64,000. The patient’s family was satisfied with the treatment, but approached the commission regarding the hefty bill.
Justice (Retd) Asim Kumar Banerjee, chairman, WBCERC, said, “The hospital charged almost Rs 80,000 per day despite the patient having no surgical intervention, but only a few small procedures. The visits of the doctors alone cost Rs 2,41,000. Even charges for medicine and the investigative tests are extremely high. We also found that the medicine and consumables alone were billed at over Rs 11 lakh. We do not think such a high bill is justified.”
Earlier, the commission asked the hospital to settle the matter by incorporating a reasonable amount of discount. The commission suggested to keep each day charge at Rs 50000. However, the hospital refunded a sum of only Rs 39,000 to the family, which the commission observed was not enough.
"During COVID, such an issue of overbilling surfaced in ILS Dumdum, where one medical professional was undergoing treatment, and the issue was picked up by various media outlets. It is surprising that such a staggering bill has again been charged by the same facility. We will deal with this issue with zero tolerance. We have asked the DHS to constitute an expert committee, including medical experts, who will investigate the bill thoroughly to determine the amount that should actually be charged, and in case of inconsistencies, the excess amount will be refunded to the complainant. Until the report of analysis is out and the trail concludes, the hospital will deposit the entire amount in the bank as a fixed deposit," added Banerjee.
