E-Paper
Karnal admn issues notices to 9 pvt hospitals for overcharging Covid patients
As many as 481 Covid-19 patients were forced to pay ₹57
As many as 481 Covid-19 patients were forced to pay ₹57.17 lakh more than the prescribed rates by nine private hospitals in Karnal during the second wave of the pandemic.
This came to light in the investigation report of a panel formed to examine hospital bills of all private Covid hospitals in district.
The notices were served to these hospitals following an investigation by the panel formed by the Karnal deputy commissioner under Dr Aditi, managing director of the Karnal sugar mill.
These hospitals have been asked to refund the money to the patients within a week or strict action will be taken against them.
As per the report, the committee examined over 3,000 bills of patients admitted in all 15 hospitals designated for Covid patients from March 1 to 31.
During the investigation, it was found that private hospitals - Virk Hospital, Ujala Cygnus, Park Hospital, Shri Ram Chander Memorial, Swastik Hospital, Arpana Hospital, Dua Multi-specialty Hospital, Amrit Dhara Hospital, RP Wellter - had allegedly overcharged from their patients.
Deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said the panel was formed following complaints of overcharging by private hospitals. It was found that the nine hospitals took ₹57.17 lakh more than the prescribed rates.
He said that one hospital has also been served show-cause notice for not providing records to the panel.
The matter came to light on May 26, after one Rohit Kumar, of Assandh, filed a complaint with the deputy commissioner alleging that a private hospital charged around ₹4.62 lakh (including ₹44,000 for 22 PPE kits used by doctors) during treatment of his father from May 4 to 25.
He had alleged that the hospital had charged ₹3,15,000 for Covid ICU, ₹76,000 for medicines, ₹30,000 for tests and CT scans.
