The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission on Friday asked three private hospitals in the city to refund various sums to patients who had complained that the hospitals did not accept Swasthya Sathi cards or had charged them more.

CMRI Hospital agreed to refund Rs 67,617 to a patient’s family who had alleged that the hospital did not agree to admit the patient — a 22-year-old woman — under the Swasthya Sathi scheme.

“The patient’s family said the hospital refused to admit the woman under the Swasthya Sathi scheme. The hospital said the patient’s family presented the card after the woman had spent a fortnight at the hospital. We requested the hospital to consider the case on humanitarian grounds since the family is very poor. The hospital agreed to return Rs 67,617 out of the total Rs 8.67 lakh bill,” said the chairman of the commission, retired judge Ashim Kumar Banerjee. The woman was shifted to a state run hospital from CMRI where she passed away in May.

Similarly, Iris Hospital in Jadavpur was asked to return Rs 50,000 to a patient’s family who had alleged that the hospital did not admit the patient under the Swasthya Sathi scheme.

Banerjee said the hospital told them that the Swasthys Sathi scheme had not become operational in the hospital when the patient was admitted in May. “They agreed to return Rs 50,000 when we asked them,” he said.

Fortis Hospital was asked to refund Rs 70,000 to a patient’s family after they lodged a complaint that the hospital had charged them the full package amount of Rs 2.10 lakh though the patient died within a day of admission.

“The patient was admitted for a procedure under Rs 2.10 lakh package, but the 76-year-old man passed away within a day. The patient’s family that the hospital charged the full amount for one day. We asked the hospital to return Rs 70,000 that the patient party had to pay as it was not paid by the insurance company,” said Banerjee.