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11 Pune hospitals owe over ₹12 lakh to Covid patients, PMC issues notice
Some of the hospitals include Bharati Vidyapeeth, Ruby Hall Clinic, Wanowrie, Sahyadri Hospital and Jupiter Hospital
PUNE The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) issued show cause notice to at least 11 private hospitals in the city for not refunding the excess amount charged to Covid-19 patients. These bills were audited by the civic body for patients admitted between May to November 2021.
At least 25 patients have to be reimbursed over ₹12 lakh, said, officials.
The hospitals are being issued the notice after they failed to pay heed to the two reminder notices that the PMC has sent them. Some of the hospitals include Bharati Vidyapeeth, Ruby Hall Clinic, Wanowrie, Sahyadri Hospital and Jupiter Hospital.
The PMC has now issued a notice asking why the hospitals should not be shut down for six months as they have failed to reimburse the amount despite repeated reminders.
Sahyadri and Jupiter hospitals refused to give an official reply. While Bharatiya Vidyapeeth’s deputy medical director, Dr Jitendra Oswal said, “Satisfactory detailed reply has been given to PMC.”
Dr Manisha Naik, assistant health officer, PMC, said, “These 11 hospitals have failed to respond to our queries. We had first sent out a notice then a reminder date, and then a final notice was sent.”
“A total of 25 patients who underwent treatment in these hospitals were charged more than the capping set by the state government. The new show cause notice has been signed by the additional commissioner and if they fail to respond we might even cancel their license which we had done previously in case of a hospital during the lockdown,” she said.
Post the second Covid-19 wave which peaked in April 2021, the rate of admission went drastically high. Despite the state government’s capping on charges to be charged by private hospitals to the Covid-19 patients, it was found that many hospitals had overcharged the patients. The state government had instructed the district authorities to audit every Covid-19 patient’s bill and ensure that the hospital does not overcharge the patient. Despite this, the hospitals were found to overcharge the patients.
