Pune: ₹1 crore refunded to patients overcharged for Covid-19 treatment

“We were able to recover ₹1 crore and reimburse 142 Covid-19 patients, as of March 28. We have been following up on this since the second wave when there was a drastic demand for beds. We also sent out multiple notices to private hospitals. When these hospitals failed to respond, we issued show cause notices as well. We first sent out a notice, then a reminder letter and then a final notice was sent. The final show cause notice was signed by the additional commissioner, stating that if they fail to respond we might even cancel their license for six months, which we had done previously in case of a hospital, during the lockdown, ” A civic administration official said. 

PMC had issued notices to these hospitals after the civic body received complaints from patients. The municipal corporation also audited bills that were issued to the patients treated for Covid-19. This was done to ensure that these medical institutions had charged patients as per the price cap set by the state government.

Post the second Covid-19 wave which peaked in April 2021, the rate of admission was high. Despite the state government’s price cap, private hospitals overcharged the patients. 

The state government had instructed the district authorities to audit every Covid-19 patient’s bill and ensure that the hospital does not overcharge the patient. Despite this, 20 private hospitals were found to be overcharging patients, said officials.

Dr Naik further added, “ These hospitals have charged ₹5.95 crore in bills to the patients undergoing treatment for Covid-19, out of which, as per the price cap set by the state government, the bill should have been ₹4.95 crore, and so we were able to reimburse ₹1 crore to these patients.”