The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission has imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on AMRI Hospitals Salt Lake for delaying the treatment of a patient by a few hours.
The commission also asked the hospital to refund Rs 50,400 to the family of another patient after it was found the hospital had billed them more than the panel-approved rates.
The commission asked ILS Hospital Salt Lake to return Rs 22,800 to the same patient’s family for overcharging.
Retired judge Ashim Banerjee, chairperson of the commission, said a 46-year-old woman from Belghoria was admitted to ILS Hospital Salt Lake for a laparoscopic hysterectomy.
The woman developed complications after the surgery and was shifted to AMRI Salt Lake.
She eventually passed away.
While examining the bills of the two hospitals, the commission found that both had charged the patient more than the rates set by the commission through advisories.
“We examined the bills and found that the patient was billed in excess. We asked AMRI Salt Lake to return Rs 50,400. We also asked ILS Salt Lake to return Rs 22,800 to the family,” Banerjee said.
The commission also imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on AMRI Salt Lake for not admitting a patient for over three hours despite an advice from a doctor that she be admitted to the intensive care unit.
The patient had come from Tamluk in Purba Medinipur district.
Banerjee said they examined the CCTV footage and found that the patient was not admitted for three hours and 35 minutes.
“Despite the doctor in the emergency advising admission, the patient was not admitted. The family finally took the patient to another hospital,” Banerjee said.
Banerjee said the hospital refused admission on the ground that no bed covered by the West Bengal Health Scheme (WBHS) was vacant.
“We asked the hospital whether they enquired if WBHS bed was available in any of their other two units. They admitted that they did not do so,” Banerjee said.
“We imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on AMRI Salt Lake,” he said.
“I reserve my comments since I have not seen the order,” said Debashis Dhar, vice-president, ILS group of hospitals.
“Both orders are unjust and biased,” said Rupak Barua, Group CEO of AMRI Hospitals.