JOIN USBengaluru: 22 Covid-19 patients to get Rs 24.80 lakh refunds
The government has asked the SSNMC super speciality hospital in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bengaluru, to refund Rs 24.80 lakh to 22 Covid-19 patients, who were asked to pay the amount in advance for treatment which should be free.
The refunds were prompted after a specially constituted hospital supervisory team of IPS and IAS officers operating in RR Nagar Zone examined the billing records of the hospital.
Of the 22 patients, 21 had been asked to pay an advance amount ranging between Rs 55,000 and Rs 3.05 lakh for medical care services. Another patient was not charged in advance, but like the others was subsequently billed in excess of the prices fixed by the state government, said D Roopa Moudgil, IPS, one of the officers in the team.
In one example, a patient was charged 1.30 lakh for total treatment instead of Rs 56,000, which would have been paid by the government, she added.
Roopa said the situation had arisen because of the public’s fear of the disease, which meant that even asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients were rushing to hospitals without waiting for a government referral. “Nearly all the 22 patients had ICMR registration codes or Specimen Referral Form (SRF) numbers and had been advised to stay at home until referral letters were drafted,” Roopa said. “However, they rushed to private hospitals which did not inform them that they could avail free treatment if they waited for a BBMP referral.”
Dr Guru Prasad, Chief Marketing Officer of Sparsh Hospital, which oversees SSNMC, said that the problem arose after the 22 patients, who were enrolled under SAST, demanded suite rooms and expensive medications such as tocilizumab and remdesvir.
“These were extra facilities,” he said, adding that the hospital had now sorted out the problem.
Activists involved in securing beds for patients have repeatedly complained of overcharging by private hospitals in the city. “Even people with BBMP letters are told they will only be accepted by private hospitals if they first pay an advance, and then they are subsequently charged for the days of treatment,” said an activist who did not want to be named.
This is the first action taken by a hospital supervisory management team, a source said. The other members of the team are IAS officer Harsh Gupta and Ashok Gowda (BWSSB).