The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission has asked a hospital in south Calcutta to give Rs 50,000 as compensation to a patient who was overbilled during his Covid treatment.

Chinmoy Chakraborty had stayed at Kasturi Das Memorial Superspeciality Hospital in Santoshpur for 15 days.

“We have given a discount of Rs 50,000 to the patient. We found that the bed charges were very high. He was in a triple-sharing bed and charged Rs 9,000,” retired judge Ashim Banerjee, the chairman of the commission, said on Monday after the hearing.

There was separate billing for resident medical officer, sanitisation and biomedical waste disposal. “The patient was billed Rs 3.41 lakh,” Banerjee said.

“He gave the entire amount and later got a reimbursement of Rs 2.11 lakh. He had to bear Rs 1.29 lakh. We have given him a further discount of Rs 50,000,” Banerjee said.

There have been instances in the past when the commission has asked hospitals to return various amounts to patients for overcharging, which included exorbitant amounts for pathological tests.

The government has capped doctors’ consultation fees and PPE rates. The commission issued an advisory that PPE rates would include glove and mask charges.