Pramesh Jain
The Baiyappanahalli police have registered an FIR against the Managing Director of the hospital for charging excessive bills from covid patients .
Senior officer told reporters,Dr.Shivegouda,in his complaint said that from east zone war room they received a complaint that hospital has charged exhobirant bills to Covid patients.
Based on a complaint,Nodal officer team led by ADGP,KSRP,Alok Kumar,Captain Manivannan,IAS,with other team of officials inspected the hospital and found that it has charged exorbitant bills to the covid patients against the government specified rates in the order
The Nodal Officers in Charge of Hospitals have recorded 99 patients whose insurance bills were inflated at a private hospital in the East Zone.
These administrators are currently cracking down on private hospitals which overcharge their patients. This hospital has been ordered to refund all patients.
As per the order the hospital should charge RS 10,000 for general bed,HDU bed for Rs 12,000, Isolation without Ventilator,RS 15,000 and Rs 25,000 for isolation ICU with ventilator,as per the government order specified in (No.RD 158 TNR 2020) issued on April 4, 2021.
Based on the report,Dr.Shivegouda issued notice to Dr.Jacqualine seeking explanation and also directed to refund the excess bill amount to the patients.
Despite notice,Dr.Jacqualine,citing health grounds, did not file her response and even not refunded the excessive amount to Covid patients.
This amounts to gross violations of covid protocol and government guidelines but also cheating members of general public,he said in his complaint.
The police are now seeking details of the cheating committed by the hospital.We need to check how many patients have been cheated and how much before initiating inquiry,said a senior police officer, adding that they are waiting for the required details.
ADGP,KSRP,Alok Kumar,and Captain Manivannan, IAS,who are the East Zone Nodal officers visited the Comfort hospital and inspected the hospital and took the hospital owners to task for charging exorbitant as excessive amount of bill from Covid patients.
The Nodal officers visited the hospital wearing PPE Kit and interacted with the patients and their relatives and after receiving information from the patients and their kin the team questioned hospital owner and others and after analysing the records of hospital.
The team found Hospitals have been charging patients who do not fall under government quotas exorbitant bills,even though the government has put a price cap on hospital beds.
Patients have been charged under different pretexts, like oxygen and nurses/staff,and extra amounts.
It was found that the hospital has charged Rs.1000 per hour for oxygen.
During April and May,the director of Comfort Multispeciality Hospital in CV Raman Nagar received complaints that the facility had been charging Rs.1,000 per hour for oxygen and an exclusive rate for beds that exceeded government norms.
We set up a special team to examine the hospital’s bills.The team reviewed the bills and found 99 patients who were overcharged by almost Rs.75 lakh.
Based on the complaint filed by Dr.Shivegouda V,BBMP, health officer CV Raman Nagar division,the Baiyyapanahalli police charged Dr.Jacquline,MD.and others of Comfort hospital, Kaggadasapura main road,charging them under various sections of the Disaster Management Act and also under cheating on Tuesday.
Sources said based on the efforts of Nodal officer the hospital has ensured to pay back the excessive charge billed by hospital to patients.
Many Netizens on Social media appreciated ADGP,KSRP, Alok Kumar, Captain P Manivannan and his whole team for their immense efforts and helping the Covid patients to get their excessive amount back .
