After receiving complaints of inflated bills from families of Covid-19 patients, a regulatory body for private hospitals of West Bengal has directed several such facilities of Kolkata to settle the issue, officials said on Saturday.

Communications have been sent to a number of private hospitals to resolve billing issues from family members of patients diagnosed with novel coronavirus infection.

Complaints of unreasonably high billing were also received from patients suffering from diseases other than Covid-19, a senior official of the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) told PTI.

The WBCERC has advised private hospitals to employ an official to redress grievances about billing complaints, he said.

"The official will be given the independence to settle the billing issues within 24 hours. If patient parties are not satisfied after that, the matter can go to the appellate authority. We hope that most of the complaints will be amicably resolved," he said.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is also mulling the option of forwarding similar complaints received at its borough offices to the state health department for necessary action, an official of the civic body said.

State Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha on Friday urged authorities of private hospitals not to impose costs of additional medical expenses entirely on the patient parties.