Hospital files plaint against man for not paying ₹1.5-lakh bill

A patient who was undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at a Virar hospital fled after he got a ₹1.5-lakh bill from the hospital. The incident took place last week,

A patient who was undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at a Virar hospital fled after he got a ₹1.5-lakh bill from the hospital. The incident took place last week, but the management of Vijay Vallabh Hospital approached Arnala coastal police to file a complaint on Saturday night citing that the patient used foul language when the hospital authorities called him to clear the bill. He allegedly also threatened the hospital saying he would spread the infection in the neighbourhood.

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The patient, a Virar resident, was admitted to the hospital on July 12. “He was set to be discharged on July 19. We handed him a bill of nearly ₹1.5 lakh. He said he would talk to the HR department of the hospital. Believing him, the staff got busy in other administration work, and the patient took this chance to flee,” said Dr Shailesh Pathak, owner of the hospital adding, “As we could not find him, We called on his mobile but it was switched off.”

“A few days later, we managed to contact him and asked him to clear the bill, but he refused to pay and started to use foul language over the inflated bill. He also threatened to spread the infection in the neighbourbood,” added Dr Pathak.

Following this, the hospital approached the police. A hospital administrator said, “We will recover the money as per law, but we are worried about the patient spreading the infection.”

Arnala police in Virar said they have received the complaint and are studying the documents submitted by the hospital.