Kolkata: Horror stories pour out of small clinics with poor infrastructure – Times of India

KOLKATA: Horror stories are tumbling out of small-time nursing homes in the city that had low-key operations prior to the pandemic but have seized upon the bed crisis at major hospitals in the second wave to make a killing. Not only are they admitting patients by the droves in hallways and rooms packed with beds and little else in terms of medical infrastructure, there are reports of gross negligence in patient care.
When a doctor recommended hospital admission for Santosh Devi Pansari, 58, due to her high viral load, her son Anup Kumar admitted her to a nursing home in Behala on April18. Little did he know it had gained notoriety for poor patient care and high billing.
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“I was told the general bed would cost Rs 20,000 a day and ICU Rs 30,000. At the time, I was grateful to get my mother admitted,” he said. But the relief was short-lived as his mother’s condition did not improve and there was no briefing from doctors. The hospital staff did not take Covid precautions, PPEs were rarely used, bedsheets were stained and toilets dirty.
“My mother complained about lack of care. Then one day she said something that made me cringe in horror. She said at night she would wake up to screams of patients and gasps from others as the staff switched off oxygen supply. I shuddered because I would see 8-10 dead bodies lined up for disposal almost every day,” recounted Kumar. He paid Rs 2.2 lakh that day and discharged his mother after signing a bond. On May 10, he lodged a complaint against the nursing home with the West Bengal Medical Council.
Sashanka Dey, 55, suffering from shortness of breath, was admitted to a nursing home in Chinar Park, Rajarhat on April 29. On May 2, son Saptarshi received a phone call from the hospital, informing that his father was weak but doing fine and would be discharged the next day. The family paid Rs 80,000 for the bed and Rs 11,000 for medicines. Barely a week later, Sashanka again experienced breathing trouble and was rushed to a hospital in Topsia, which asked for a deposit of Rs1 lakh in cash. He passed away a day later. Doctors said the chest X-ray report at the previous nursing home showed clear signs of lung infection that wasn’t treated.
‘No treatment even after paying exorbitant bills’
Manik Lal Mukherjee, 66, developed Covid symptoms days after three others in the family tested positive. He needed hospitalisation but his test report was yet to arrive. When his son Abhishek took him to a nursing home in Behala, they were shocked to find eight Covid bodies dumped outside the hospital. The family then went to the facility in Park Circus, which was charging Rs 45,000 per day for an ICU bed. After four days, Abhishek realised his father was receiving hardly any treatment. On May 9, Manik Lal was shifted to Peerless Hospital and is still on ventilation.
Behala resident Paramita Saha lost husband Suhash Guha (42) on May 8 due to lack of treatment even after she spent Rs 2.6 lakh in five days, first admitting him to a Behala nursing home and then to another facility at Park Circus. The Behala nursing home charged her Rs 50,000 a day for an ICU bed. The day after the admission, a hospital staff she knew informed her that the facility had only 30 minutes of oxygen supply and that he was quitting before patients began to die. On reaching the hospital, she found eight bodies lined for disposal. She signed a bond and took her husband home but as his condition deteriorated. He passed away two days later. The hospital charged her Rs 1.6 lakh.
TOI tried to contact all the facilities but none took the calls.
After receiving numerous such complaints on lack of treatment, negligence, mismanagement and overbilling from kins of patients, the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission said it has ordered admission be stopped in against three facilities — Apex Clinic Pvt Ltd in Behala, Good Samaritan Hospital in Park Circus, and Ujjivan Hospital in New Town.
“We have asked Apex Clinic Pvt Ltd, Good Samaritan Hospital and Ujjivan Hospital in New Town to send us some random bills within 14 hours. We will assess and analyse them. Till then, the three units have been asked not to admit new patients,” said health panel chairman Justice (retd) Ashim Kumar Banerjee.