The state clinical establishment regulatory commission on Wednesday asked Eco Hospital in Barasat to pay Rs 2 lakh to a family in compensation for being negligent towards a newborn.

An attendant who was looking after the newborn in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) told the commission in a written statement that she had called the on-duty nurse when the baby was crying but the nurse did not turn up.

“We have asked the hospital to pay Rs 2 lakh in compensation to the baby’s parents. We cannot say definitively why the baby died because no post-mortem was done, but we found the conduct of the paramedical staff such as ayah and nurses negligent,” retired judge Ashim Banerjee, the chairperson of the commission, said.

The baby was born on November 4 and passed away the next morning.

“The ayah said she informed the nurse that the baby was perspiring and crying, but the nurse told her to wipe the sweat off the baby’s face and switch on the fan. The nurse did not visit the baby,” said Banerjee. “Besides, the CCTV footage showed there were attempts to feed the baby in a supine position.”

When the commission sought to know when the post-mortem was not performed, the hospital said they had advised the baby’s family verbally to conduct a post-mortem but they did not agree.

Metro tried calling two numbers collected from the internet to reach the hospital, but the calls did not go through.

Hospitals fined

The commission on Wednesday asked Ruby General Hospital to return Rs 50,000 to the family of a 63-year-old man who was treated for Covid. The man was admitted to the hospital on October 21.

The patient’s family alleged that the bed charges were high and they had to pay Rs 81,478 after the insurance company refused to foot the entire bill.

“We found the bed charges high. The rates of some pathology tests were high, too. The hospital also did not offer the patient any discount on medicines and consumables, which we had asked private hospitals to offer to Covid patients,” said Banerjee.

The hospital’s representative told the commission they were helping the patient’s family get the amount the insurance company did not pay. “We have said the patient party will pay the hospital the money (Rs 50,000) if they get reimbursement from the insurance company,” Banerjee said.

ILS Dum Dum was asked to offer a discount of Rs 25,000 to the family of a 69-year-old man who was treated for Covid. The commission also found rates of some pathology tests to be exorbitant.