A private hospital in the city has promised to return to the family of a Covid-19 patient as much as 76 per cent of the amount charged as “non-medical expenses” that are usually incurred on personal protection equipment for medical professionals.

The hospital offered to repay Rs 1.4 lakh of the Rs 1.84 lakh charged after the patient’s family approached the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission with a complaint of overcharging, the panel’s chairperson said on Wednesday.

The commission referred to the facility as a private hospital in Dhakuria, refraining from naming it on the ground that a settlement had been arrived at.

The patient, an 86-year-old woman, was admitted to the hospital on May 16 and discharged on June 11.

The hospital billed the patient Rs 5.86 lakh, said retired judge Ashim Kumar Banerjee, the commission’s chairperson. Of that amount, Rs 1.84 lakh was charged under the head “non-medical expenses”, he said.

The patient was billed Rs 7,000 daily for personal protective equipment (PPE), which doctors and others wore while treating her.

“The woman’s family had approached us with the complaint of overcharging. They were charged Rs 1.84 lakh for non-medical expenses. During Wednesday’s hearing, the hospital said they had charged Rs 7,000 daily for PPE,” said Banerjee.

“The hospital argued that the amount for PPE had been charged before the government set a daily cap of Rs 1,000 for the shield. But we told them this was not right. During the hearing, the hospital said they would refund Rs 1.4 lakh. The complainant’s family accepted the hospital’s offer,” he said.

The family of the patient had told the commission that the insurance company had declined to pay the non-medical expenses and they had to pay the money from their pocket.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had last month announced that private hospitals could not charge more than Rs 1,000 a day for PPE.

Banerjee, the commission’s chairperson, spoke of the first complaint the commission has received through WhatsApp. In the complaint sent to the chairperson’s personal phone number on Wednesday, the daughter of a patient admitted to a private hospital complained that the bill had exceeded Rs 15 lakh but she had no information about her father.

“We have asked the hospital to respond to the charge,” Banerjee said.

The chairperson said the commission was giving priority to complaints related to the pandemic.