A private hospital on Wednesday was asked by the state clinical establishment commission to return Rs 80,667 to a patient’s family for overcharging them for medicines, consumables and tests.
A penalty of Rs 50,000 has been imposed on the hospital for not following its advisories in preparing the patient’s bill.
The commission’s chairperson, retired judge Ashim Banerjee, said at a news conference that despite being told several times, the hospital did not update its billing software and was overcharging patients in violation of the panel’s advisories. “We have asked CMRI to return Rs 80,667 to the patient’s family. This sum was overcharged on account of medicines, consumables and investigations. The hospital had also charged one day’s additional bed charges.”
During the hearing, the hospital’s representative said their billing software had not been updated, a reason why the extra charges were reflected in the bill.
Banerjee said updating the software was CMRI’s responsibility and it could not be an excuse for overcharging. “They have been told several times, yet they have not updated the software,” he said.
“We will go through the order, analyse it and fix the required gaps,” said an official of CMRI.
The patient, a woman from Birbhum’s Sainthia, underwent treatment at the hospital for 15 days from December 31.