Health panel asks hosp to refund 2 lakh – Times of India

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission on Monday asked Fortis Hospital to refund Rs 2 lakh to a patient and imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000 on the hospital. The commission decided to give this penalty amount to the patient.
According to the complaint lodged with the panel, Dalia Goswami had gone to the hospital for Covid treatment. The 52-year-old was treated for 29 days between May and June in 2021. The bill was Rs 29,64,000.
“We analysed the bill and found Rs 10 lakh only was for medicine and Rs 4.5 lakh for investigation and Rs 2 lakh for consumables. We found the patient being charged around Rs 3.3 lakh in excess,” said WBCERC chairman justice (retd), Ashim Kumar Banerjee. The hospital issued a statement: “Fortis Healthcare ensures that it follows the directives of the commission in all circumstances. However, in this particular case, billing was done as per TPA norms. The commission has advised us to bring these cases under prescribed directive. We remain committed to follow the commission’s advisory.”