Sassoon appoints committee to probe alleged demand of money by doctor
Sassoon General Hospital appoints committee to probe alleged money demand from patient; relatives claim doctor asked for ₹24,500 without prescription.
The Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) has appointed a committee to investigate the alleged demand for money from a patient by a senior resident doctor at the hospital. On June 4, a 17-year-old patient admitted to the hospital was allegedly asked to pay ₹24,500 to a private medical store and was threatened that all the patient’s relatives would be booked if they failed to pay.
As per the complaints of the relatives, the patient underwent neurosurgery at the hospital. On 4 June, a senior doctor at the hospital asked the relatives of the patient to pay ₹24,500 to a private medical store in the Pune station area for a medical kit. However, the doctor gave no official prescription for the same.
Dr Chandrakant Mhaske, dean of BJ Medical College and SGH, informed a three-member committee has been established to conduct a probe into this incident. The committee will be headed by Dr Murlidhar Tambe, head of the PSM department.
“The committee will conduct a detailed investigation and record the statement of the patient’s kin and the treating doctors. Action will be taken after the reports are received. The statement of the mother was recorded on Wednesday,” said the dean.
The mother of the patient, a widow from Sayyad Nagar in Kondhwa approached social worker Zuber Memon for justice. Menon exposed the malpractice practice through a sting operation and raised a complaint of the unlawful practice to the Pune police and SGH administration.
{{/usCountry}}The mother of the patient, a widow from Sayyad Nagar in Kondhwa approached social worker Zuber Memon for justice. Menon exposed the malpractice practice through a sting operation and raised a complaint of the unlawful practice to the Pune police and SGH administration.
{{/usCountry}}He held a press conference on Wednesday to share the details of the incident with the media. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media.
Memon said that despite SGH being a government hospital the patient was asked to pay money.
“There was no prescription, or the doctor asked the relatives only to pay the money at the medical store for a kit. However, the relatives were never asked to get anything from the medical store in exchange for the payment. Even during the treatment, the relatives were asked to get medicines from outside,” he claimed.
In the video, the doctor is seen allegedly telling the patient’s relatives that a medical kit, costing ₹ 24,500, was needed during the surgery. The patient’s relatives tell him that they have only ₹ 8,000 with them. However, the doctor petrifies them by saying that a patient died earlier as their kin did not provide the kit.
