West Bengal Health Panel Orders Probe into Private Hospital's Exorbitant Bill
The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has taken decisive action against a private hospital in Howrah, directing it to deposit an entire bill of Rs 26,64,000 after finding the charges unethically high. The commission has also instructed the Director Health Services (DHS) to form a high-power committee to scrutinize the bill in detail.
Case Details and Commission's Findings
According to a complaint filed with the health panel, Sutapa Dey, a 50-year-old resident of Konnagar, was admitted to ILS Hospital Howrah on December 14 last year in critical condition. She passed away after 33 days, and her family was presented with a bill exceeding Rs 26.64 lakh. Distressed by the amount, the family sought intervention from the WBCERC.
Justice (Retd) Asim Kumar Banerjee, chairman of the WBCERC, highlighted the irregularities: "That means the charges per day were around 80,000, whereas we found that there was no surgical intervention, but only a few small procedures. The bill shows doctor visit fees alone amounting to Rs 2,41,000. Even charges for medicine and the investigative tests are extremely high. The hospital could not justify this extremely high bill."
Initial Actions and Hospital's Response
Earlier, the commission had urged the hospital to resolve the issue by waiving a reasonable portion of the bill. However, the hospital refunded only Rs 39,000 to the family, which the commission deemed insufficient. Further investigation revealed that medicine and consumables alone were billed at over Rs 11 lakh, raising serious concerns about billing practices.
Zero-Tolerance Approach and Committee Formation
In response, Justice Banerjee emphasized a strict stance: "We will deal with this issue with zero tolerance. We asked the DHS to form a high power committee, including medical experts, who will scrutinise the bill to come out with a figure that could be charged from the family. The hospital has to refund the rest of the amount. Until the report of analysis comes to us, the hospital will deposit the entire amount in the bank as a fixed deposit."
This directive ensures that the hospital cannot access the funds until the committee completes its analysis and the commission issues a final verdict. The move aims to protect patients from exploitative billing and uphold ethical standards in healthcare.
