The state clinical establishment regulatory commission on Thursday directed Desun Hospital and Woodlands Hospital to refund various sums to the families of three persons treated there.

The family of a 61-year-old man, who was admitted to Desun on July 22 with Covid-19 and passed away four days later, had lodged a complaint stating that they had been billed Rs 2.92 lakh for the four-day treatment.

“In the bill, Rs 52,400 was shown as bed charges, Rs 86,000 for investigations and Rs 96,000 as pharmacy charges. We found the pathology charges exorbitant,” said Banerjee. “Rs 2.92 lakh for four days seems to be a very high amount.”

The commission considered Rs 50,000 as each day’s cost of treatment and asked the hospital to return the rest to the family.

The commission asked Desun to return Rs 48,000 to Swapna Dey, who stayed at the hospital for 29 hours. “The bill came to Rs 1.23 lakh. The woman was billed Rs 29,000 for bed charges, Rs 58,000 for pathology charges. Sanitisation charges were also taken. We found the cost exorbitant,” he said.

Dey had Covid and was admitted to the ICU. Banerjee said in this case, too, the commission had fixed Rs 50,000 as the rate for a day and asked the hospital to keep Rs 75,000 as the amount for one and a half days. “We asked them to refund Rs 48,000 to the family,” he said.

Tapas Mukherjee, the deputy managing director of Desun Hospital, said they would have to examine the order before commenting.

The commission asked Woodlands to refund Rs 50,000 to the family of an 85-year-old woman who was admitted to the hospital in June.

“The woman’s family said the hospital billed them Rs 6.47 lakh. She had tested negative for Covid, yet the hospital took Covid protection charges,” said Banerjee. “We also found the hospital did not offer any discount on pharmacy charges.”

The commission had asked private hospitals to offer Covid-19 patients discounts on the maximum retail price of medicines.

An official of the hospital said: “We have billed according to our existing and displayed rates and felt we became a victim of circumstances today. The patients’ relatives complained about medical management. They had no complaints on billing. The commission today asked the hospital to reduce the pathological test charges, waive off Covid protection charges and asked for a discount on pharmacy bills and a total refund of Rs 50,000 was ordered.”