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Fleecing during Covid treatment: 3 pvt hospitals in P’kula refund excess fee
The three hospitals -- Alchemist Hospital, Sector 21, Paras Hospital, Sector 25, and Wings Hospital, Sector 25, -- revised 18 inflated bills.
Facing the heat for fleecing Covid-19 patients, three private hospitals in Panchkula finally refunded the excess charges to the patients and their kin.
The three hospitals -- Alchemist Hospital, Sector 21, Paras Hospital, Sector 25, and Wings Hospital, Sector 25, -- revised 18 inflated bills.
The development comes after the Panchkula administration issued show-cause notices to these hospitals. After reconciliation of 18 bills, the hospitals were asked to refund the overcharged amount by June 23. The patients were charged anywhere between 42% and 345% more than the rates fixed by the government.
Alchemist hospital has refunded the overcharge amount to four patients, Wings Hospital revised three bills while Paras hospital, which had the maximum complaints of overcharging, refunded money to 11 patients. Three of 11 patients at Paras Hospital had expired so the money was refunded to their kin.
“The hospitals had charged 300 to 350% more than the rates fixed by the government. We had taken these 18 bills as test bills after complaints of overcharging started pouring in. The three hospitals have refunded the overcharged amount,” said BB Singhal, member of the district-level committee that was looking into the complaints. Singhal is also member of the Haryana State Pharmacy Council.
The district-level committee has also recommended a self-audit of Covid bills by the hospitals. “The committee will randomly check the self-audited bills to ensure that people are not fleeced in the name of treatment,” added Singhal.
MLA had flagged the issue
Speaker of Haryana assembly and MLA from the Panchkula constituency, Gian Chand Gupta had even visited Paras Hospital after receiving complaints of overcharging. He had recommended the formation of a panel to look into the matter. Gupta had also written to health minister Anil Vij requesting for an audit of the bills issued by the private hospitals.
A district-level eight-member committee, led by ADC Mohd Imran Raza, was constituted which, in its report, had said that the hospitals are not adhering to the government rates.
In June last year, the Haryana government had issued an order capping the daily package rate for Covid-19 treatment in private hospitals between ₹8,000 and ₹18,000.
