Taking cognisance of complaints that some private hospitals are fleecing COVID patients, Health Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday said a random audit will be conducted and if found overcharging, strict action will be taken against them. His response came when asked that Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, who is a BJP MLA from Panchkula, on Tuesday said he had received many complaints in this regard.
Gupta wrote a letter to the chief minister and the health minister, recommending that all such hospital bills in the state should be audited. Gupta has also sought the cancellation of licences of hospitals found fleecing patients.
He cited instances where private hospitals are charging exorbitant sums of money from those patients who are government employees, covered under various insurance schemes as well as those who don’t fall in these two categories. The speaker had told reporters that he had formed a district-level committee after receiving complaints in this regard.
In the case of one private hospital in Panchkula, Gupta said a COVID patient was handed out a provisional bill of Rs 7.59 lakh and the committee had found that surgical items and medicines were charged more than three times. I also paid a visit to the hospital and when the matter was enquired by the committee, the hospital issued a revised bill of Rs 2.90 lakh to the patient. They had no answer when asked to explain how there could be so huge difference between a provisional and a final bill, said Gupta.
Gupta also said it was found in some cases that the patients with insurance cover or those from the government sector, whose bills are reimbursed by the government, are given inflated bills.
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