All private hospitals have to give 15 days time to patients to undergo all investigations recommended by a doctor and report back with the results for a free second visit, the chairperson of the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission said on Monday.

Ashim Banerjee, the commission’s chairperson, said that the commission will issue an advisory so that all hospitals allow a fortnight for the patients to come back with the results of the investigations. This is applicable only to patients in the outpatient department (OPD).

At present almost all private hospitals give only seven days time to patients to revisit after conducting the investigations. But many fail to conduct all the investigations within seven days, Banerjee said. From the eighth day onwards, the patient has to pay the full fee equal to a fresh OPD consultation.

Banerjee announced the decision after a person who had lodged a complaint against a private hospital in the city suggested that hospitals extend the time given to patients to conduct the investigations. “We will ask all private hospitals to give patients fifteen days time to undergo the investigations that were prescribed by the doctor, instead of the seven days deadline that is followed now,” Banerjee later told Metro.

“It is not always within the control of the doctor. There are many doctors who are not consultants in a hospital. They are salaried employees of the hospitals. Doctors like them are bound by the rules of the hospital even if they do not want to charge for only seeing the results of the investigation,” he said.

“The commission will issue an advisory on this matter,” Banerjee added. He did not want to commit to any deadline by when the advisory would be issued.

Rupak Barua, the group CEO of AMRI Hospitals, said the extension from seven days to 15 days will not have any negative impact on private hospitals. “It will benefit patients,” said Barua, who is also the president of the Association of Hospitals of Eastern India.