The clinical establishment regulatory commission on Monday asked the Bhagirathi Neotia Woman and Child Care Centre’s Rawdon Street unit to pay Rs 20 lakh as compensation to the family of a pregnant woman for refusing to admit her though she complained of chest pain.
The 32-year-old woman, herself a doctor, passed away later at another private hospital.
Retired judge Ashim Banerjee, the chairperson of the commission, said the woman died after she was refused admission in two hospitals.
The woman’s family complained that a third hospital, too, had refused to admit her but relented only after they started a Facebook live on their plight.
The Telegraph is not naming the other two hospitals because the family did not lodge any complaint against the first, while Banerjee said the third hospital had provided evidence that they had treated the woman and the commission did not issue any order against them.
The Bhagirathi Neotia centre was the second hospital where the woman was taken.
According to Banerjee, the woman complained of chest pain around 8.30pm on April 24 when she visited the gynaecologist, who said there was no problem with the woman’s health. Later, around 10pm, the woman suffered pain again.
“The husband called up the gynaecologist but the doctor refused to give any medicine. They then took the woman to a private hospital but they refused admission citing the presence of Covid patients,” Banerjee said.
“The woman was then taken to Bhagirathi Neotia…. She was at the hospital between 11.15pm and 11.43pm. But they did not admit the woman,” Banerjee said.
An official of the Bhagirathi Neotia Woman and Child Care Centre said they would decide their course of action after going through the order.
The commission on Monday also asked Fortis Hospital Anandapur to prepare a fresh bill for a patient who was billed Rs 4.97 lakh for a 10-day stay. The hospital did not offer any discount to the patient as had earlier been directed by the commission, Banerjee said.
The patient, who suffered injuries in a road accident, subsequently got himself treated at Christian Medical College, Vellore. “He was at the hospital for 19 days there. It cost him Rs 1.19 lakh,” said Banerjee.
