Max Super Speciality Hospital: Ex- Hospital Surgeon in Mohali Alleges Other Doctors Asked for Referral Money, Patients Charged Unfairly
The surgeon has said that patients are charged money for no reason and have to bear unnecessary expenses when they are referred from one department to another and from other hospitals to his department in the hospital.
Mohali, May 13: Max Super Speciality hospital has under some serious allegation by a senior cardiac surgeon, Dr Virendra Sarwal. Dr Virendra has quit his position at the hospital alleging that patients are charged illegally in the name of referrals. The surgeon has said that patients are charged money for no reason and have to bear unnecessary expenses when they are referred from one department to another and from other hospitals to his department in the hospital.
Dr Sarwal, who was the head of the department of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery at the hospital said that a cardiologist at Max asked for Rs 15,000 as referral money to be paid in cash if Dr Sarwal wanted the patient to be sent to him by the other doctor. He said that he refused and told the other doctor who asked for Rs 15,000 that he doesn't buy patients.
Dr Sarwal is the proprietor of Kanahiya Daya’s Sarwal Heart Surgery in Mohali and says that Max had outsourced its department to him. His services were terminated by the Hospital on April 20, 2018.
Max Super Speciality Hospital has denied the allegation terming Dr Sarwal's allegations as false and malicious. The hospital said that it doesn't believe in such unethical practices.
Dr Sarwal also claimed that the hospital authorities terminated his services after he raised his voice against this practice on April 20 in a meeting with senior officials. He wrote to Sandeep Dogra, the senior vice-president and zonal head of operations of Max Hospital addressing the issue to him.
Dr Sarwal said he was "pressurised" over email from the hospital’s marketing department and said that the finance head of the company had started to deduct money from his account for referrals of other doctors when he had not even asked for patients to be referred to him.
The matter was then taken to the the Mohali district court on May 5. The court put a stay on the termination order.
The hospital then moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, which ordered on May 11, Friday, that a senior advocate on behalf of Max hospital handed over a cheque for Rs 14,16,600 to the advocate of the doctor (petitioner) and that the cheque has been accepted. The Court has adjourned the matter to May 15 after doctor Sarwal's plea that he should be given some space and time to practice in the hospital as he has to follow-up on some of the patients that he had operated on. The court will rule on his plea on May 15.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 13, 2018 02:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).