West Bengal Health Panel Issues Advisory to Private Hospitals, Asks to Reduce Bed Charges and Offer 10% Discount on Medicines for COVID-19 Patients

Kolkata, August 23: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission on Saturday issued an advisory and stated it clearly that the hospitals will have to keep the bed charges at what they used to be on March 1. Apart from this, the commission ordered the private hospitals to offer a 10 per cent discount on the price of medicines to COVID-19 patients.

The new advisory has been placed by the WBCERC after the government received multiple complaints of private hospitals charging exorbitant fees from COVID-19 patients as bed charges. The commission even ordered that either private hospitals will have to offer a 10 per cent discount on medicines or allow the patients’ families to provide it. The commission made it clear that no COVID-19 patient can be denied admission. Amit Shah’s Panel Recommends Fixing Cost of COVID-19 Isolation, ICU Beds in Private Hospitals: Home Ministry.

Retired Calcutta High Court judge and commission’s chairman Ashim Kumar Bandopadhyay told a television channel on Saturday evening, "I have been assured cooperation by the highest quarters of the state government in this exercise." It is to be known that it is the 11th advisory to private hospitals as allegations of inflated billing and unnecessary pathological tests are on the rise.

Meanwhile, the Association of Hospitals of Eastern India president Rupak Barua denied overcharging patients. Barua said, as quoted by Hindustan Times, "Private hospitals review their rates at the end of every financial year and, after factoring in inflation, rates are revised by an average of no more than 5-10%. This comes into effect from April 1 every year. The same was done this year too and bed rates were not increased for Covid treatment."

Adding more, he said, "In regard to the other advisories, we have requested the commission for some time to discuss internally and also to share some more clarity. As for incidents of over-billing are concerned, those should be treated as stray incidents and not standard practice. We have let the government know that private hospitals are there to support the state’s fight against the pandemic and we are always at the service of the people."

Earlier on August 8, the Commission in its advisory had made it clear that no hospital can charge more than Rs 50,000 as an advance deposit during admission. Also, the commission stated that the patient's relatives will have to given a 12-hour time to deposit the amount. On August 2, the commission stated the patients’ relatives shall be offered to choose which brand they would like to purchase.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 23, 2020 12:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).