The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission on Thursday asked AMRI Hospitals Dhakuria to refund Rs 3.19 lakh to the family of a man who was admitted to the hospital with Covid.

The hospital had billed the patient Rs 9.34 lakh for a stay of 11 days.

The commission also asked Bandhan Hospital in Nadia’s Krishnagar to pay Rs 3 lakh as compensation to the family of a man who was admitted there after meeting with a road accident.

The man was kept at the hospital for two days without proper treatment, said retired judge Ashim Banerjee, the chairperson of the commission.

“A 74-year-old man was admitted to AMRI Dhakuria on July 12. He was on a ventilator from the first day and passed away after 11 days. The hospital had billed the patient Rs 9.34 lakh for the treatment,” said Banerjee.

“We examined the bill and found that the hospital had charged Remdesivir (a drug) at the maximum retail price (MRP). Besides, they could not justify why they had given the patient the costlier version of Meropenem (a drug).”

The commission had issued an advisory in August asking private hospitals to offer Covid-19 patients discounts on the MRP of medicines and consumables.

It had also asked private hospitals to offer patients cheaper versions of a drug unless the doctor prescribed the costlier version. “AMRI Dhakuria could not justify why it had offered the patient the costlier version of Meropenem,” said Banerjee.

The commission also found that the cost of some pathology tests like liver function test and blood gas test was very high. “The test costs were twice or thrice than what we considered as reasonable rates. We have asked the hospital to refund Rs 3.19 lakh to the patient’s family,” he said.

As for Bandhan Hospital, the commission said: “A man was admitted there after meeting with a road accident. His family alleged they wanted to take him to a government hospital but a friend of the driver of the ambulance they had hired suggested Bandhan. At the hospital, the man received no treatment, because of which his condition deteriorated.”

The man was later shifted to another hospital.

The commission had ordered a probe against the hospital. The probe, conducted by the district administration, found that the hospital “was run with quacks”. The hospital was shut down but reopened after hiring qualified doctors. “We have asked the hospital to give Rs 3 lakh to the man as compensation,” said Banerjee.

The commission also asked Sankarnath Dialysis Centre in Tollygunge’s Swiss Park to offer Rs 20,000 as compensation to a patient and RSV Hospital to offer a discount of Rs 13,000 on a bill.