MADURAI: From demanding Rs 2 lakh as a deposit for Covid treatment to making desperate families sign bond papers before releasing bodies of deceased patients, private hospitals in Madurai are making hay out of the pandemic.
Despite the government’s efforts to keep hospitals from fleecing patients, such complaints continue to pour in. Two incidents that took place in Madurai this May illustrate the plight of numerous patients across the State.
In the first week of May, a threemember family, comprising husband, wife and daughter, was charged Rs 11.5 lakh for Covid treatment by a private hospital in Pudur. The wife and daughter were admitted for two days at the hospital and were together charged about Rs 4.5 lakh. The amount was paid when they were discharged. The husband, however, died after 14 days of treatment.
The hospital demanded a sum of Rs 7 lakh for his treatment. The hospital management also said that the body of the deceased would be handed over to the family only after they remitted Rs 7 lakh. A family member of the deceased, on condition of anonymity, told Express: “The hospital demanded Rs 2 lakh as a deposit at the time of admission. As we could not pay the entire amount, we paid Rs 90,000.
Later, the bill amount came up to Rs 7 lakh. As we could not afford it, we bargained with them and they reduced it to Rs 3.5 lakh.” The issue, unfortunately, did not end there. The family paid the hospital a sum of Rs 2 lakh to get the body and was made to sign a bond paper promising that they would remit the remaining Rs 1.5 lakh within a month. The deceased was the breadwinner of the family.
In a similar incident, a private hospital at Chinnachokkikulam in Madurai charged a Covid-19 patient over Rs 1 lakh for two days of hospitalisation. According to the hospital bill, which surfaced on social media, the 49-year-old patient was admitted to the hospital on May 12 and discharged on May 14. And, the hospitalisation charges came up to a total of Rs 1,00,356 (see infographic).
Following the intervention of Collector S Aneesh Sekhar, an investigation was initiated and a sum of about Rs 67,000 was refunded to the patient’s family. The Collector told Express that a meeting with the representatives of all private hospitals was held after the aforementioned incident, and they were directed to charge only the fee prescribed by the government for treatment of Covid-19.
“We have also ensured no such incident was repeated. Hospitals have been warned of strict action if they collect excess charges,” he said. For complaints related to the collection of exorbitant fees by private hospitals, the public can reach out to the Madurai district administration at 0452-2530104, 0452-2530106, 0452- 2530107 or 9597176061.