Hospital returns excess collected for Covid-19 care

It had billed Rs 13.5 lakh, and eventually settled for Rs 3.5 lakh when the district authorities intervened. The patient did not survive

Complaints are pouring in of hospitals scaring patients and fleecing their families, and ignoring the government ceiling on Covid treatment charges.

A hospital in Jayanagar, which had billed a Covid patient over and above the prescribed rates, has refunded the excess money it had collected from his family.

S K Suresh, journalist and resident of K R Pet, Mandya district, developed a fever and cough. Attempts to get him treated in Mandya failed and the family brought him to Bengaluru.

He tested positive for coronavirus. “He was admitted on October 3 and passed away on October 12,” says his wife Uma. The hospital charged the family Rs 50,000 a day and Rs 3 lakh for plasma therapy, telling them all the time that he was getting better. “In nine days, we saw him only once on video call and weren’t allowed to meet him till the end,” she says.

The shocker came when Uma was handed a bill for Rs 13.5 lakh. “We paid Rs 6.50 lakh and took the body. But the hospital authorities kept calling and harassing us to pay Rs 7 lakh more,” added Uma.

The Karnataka Union of Working Journalists got to know of the problem, and took up the case.

“We collected the bills given to Uma and got them scrutinised by the district health officials. They found a clear case of malpractice. The hospital had charged many times over and above the amount fixed by the government for Covid-19 treatment,” says Shivananda Tagadur, president of the organisation.

The hospital quickly returned Rs 3 lakh from the Rs 6.50 lakh it had collected. In effect, it had billed Rs 13.5 lakh instead of Rs 3 lakh.

Filmmaker’s story

In a second case, a Bengaluru filmmaker was scared into believing he had suffered a heart attack when he was perfectly fine. Forty-year-old Sunil (name changed on request) is also an avid cyclist. Currently in his home town of Chikmagalur, he felt some pain in his hand and rode up to Ashraya Hospital.

“As the procedure demands, a Covid test was done. My BP and sugar were normal. The nursing staff said there was some variation in my ECG and told my wife that I could have had a heart attack,” he says.

He was advised an angiogram or an injection that cost Rs 40,000.

“I refused both, saying I was feeling better and would like to take a second opinion. The staff said they wouldn’t let me go, and forced my wife to sign a consent form for further treatment,” he says. He was then wheeled into the ICU, where the hospital kept him for three days.

“I could walk to the washroom and was capable of doing everything by myself. My Covid test came out negative, but they kept it from me. By the end of four days, they gave me a bill of Rs 1.98 lakh,” he says.

He was covered under insurance, but still had to pay a part of the bill, and then travelled to KMC Hospital in Mangaluru, where doctors said his heart was in perfect condition. “This is how private hospitals scare patients by making their families believe they need serious medical help,” he says.

Ashraya Hospital is already under the scanner in another case. P S Nanjundappa, admitted on August 24, turned out to be Covid positive. He died on September 11, and the hospital handed the family a bill of Rs 11 lakh.

The district authorities stepped in and are investigating the allegation that the hospital inflated the bills. Dr Vijaykumar D L, managing director of Ashraya Hospital, says the hospital has a system in place to check bills. “If a patient who has comorbidities such as diabetes, blood pressure and cardiac problems is brought in, the hospital first gets all tests done, in addition to the Covid test. The other departments are called in and it is likely that the charges go up,” he says.

About the ongoing inquiry, he says, “We have submitted all documents asked by the district health officer. We will wait and face whatever are the findings.”

Dr Bagadi, deputy commissioner, told Metrolife a team was looking into the charges against the hospital. “In case they are found guilty, they will be asked to refund the money, and further action will be taken,” he says.

Strict action helps

Dr R Ravindra, president of the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association (PHANA), says private hospitals fleecing patients must be booked and punished under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act (KPMA). “The patient has the right to ask for medical records. If there is any misappropriation of rates or misdiagnoses, patients should report it to the Karnataka Medical Council,” he says.

Run by drivers, technicians

A senior doctor says many hospitals and clinics on the periphery of Bengaluru are run by quacks, ambulance drivers, nurses and lab technicians. “They are unscrupulous, and notorious for misdiagnosis. We have reported, with evidence, one or two of these hospitals to the district health officer,” a senior doctor says. The government must look into the problem because lives are at stake, he warns.

Govt may tweak rules: Dy CM

Deputy chief minister C N Ashwathnarayan says the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act (KPMA) may be modified to regulate private hospitals better. “We are in the process of tightening the rules related to charges, medical audit, morbidity, mortality and quality,” he told Metrolife. The government has taken over 50 per cent of all private hospitals for Covid treatment and fixed the charges, he says. “Instead of giving government schemes for private hospitals, we are working on bettering the infrastructure in government hospitals. We want to generate the same resources for the government,” he told Metrolife.