Taking a serious view of a complaint against a private hospital for allegedly refusing to hand over the body of a Covid-19 patient till his family cleared the dues, the Telangana high court on 24.06.2020 ordered a probe.
Brief Facts of the Case
Kondapuram Lavanya, a resident of Balanagar, filed the petition. Her husband, Mohan Babu, died of Covid-19 in the hospital. He was admitted to Continental Hospitals at Nanakramgudaon on July 13th. He tested positive for coronavirus and breathed his last on July 22nd.
Submission of the Petitioner
Babu’s wife paid Rs. 2.5 lakh at the time of admission. Now, the hospital is demanding another Rs. 6.5 lakh more from the petitioner. The hospital is charging a total Rs. 9 lakh for the nine-day stay in the hospital. The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the State Government had issued GO. The GO had stipulated that the cost of the stay should not cross Rs. 9,000 per day. In that sense, the total bill should not cross Rs. 1 lakh. He also submitted that the hospital was not according to any respect to the recent GO.
The hospital management was insisting the petitioner to pay more. They said her to pay Rs. 6.5 lakh more to get her husband’s body.
Observation of the Court
The petitioner had already paid Rs. 2.5 lakh at the time of admission. Now, the hospital is demanding another Rs. 6.5 lakh more from the petitioner. It means the hospital is charging Rs. 9 lakh for the nine-day stay in the hospital. The complaint highlighted the exorbitant charges of private hospitals.
Direction of the Court
The Court asked the public health director of Hyderabad to probe into the incident. The Court asked DMHO of Hyderabad to do the same. The authorities would submit a report to the Court within six weeks.
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