Speaker, Ambala MP send another complaint against Paras Hospital, Panchkula

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 24

Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta and Ambala MP Ratan Lal Kataria today forwarded another complaint of overcharging by Paras Hospital, Panchkula, to the district authorities and recommended appropriate action.

In a fresh case, a resident of Bathinda, Arti Garg, has alleged that the hospital charged Rs 13.81 lakh for treatment of her husband, Dr Kapil Kumar. Her husband was admitted to the hospital on April 12 and died on May 3.

She alleged the hospital conducted tests, kept him in Medical Intensive Care Unit and on the ventilator but didn’t provide adequate treatment.

“That I was forced to deposit Rs13.81 lakh from time to time for treatment, in fact, extracting huge amounts of money at their own desired rates fixed by them, against the orders in June last year issued by the Haryana Government, capping the daily package rates for Covid-19 treatment in private hospitals,” she said.

She added that during the treatment of her husband, she along with her mother-in-law Raksha Rani also got infected with Covid in the hospital. Rani died on May 7.

She said they were residing in a rented house and now didn’t have any source of income.

A few days ago, Gupta had given a complaint to the Health Minister in which he said the hospital was accused of overcharging three patients.

A district-level committee is looking into the allegations. Besides, Health Minister Anil Vij has also constituted another committee comprising the Director-General of Medical Education and Research Department, Dr Shaleen; the Additional Director-General of Health Department, Dr VK Bansal; and a Senior Accounts Officer of the Accounts Department to conduct further investigation in this regard.

Gupta said: “I have forwarded the complaint to the DCP, Panchkula. An FIR should be registered.”

According to a statement issued by Paras Hospital, “The patient expired on May 3, unfortunately and the circular was issued only on May 4, 2021, covering Covid package rates for all domicile.

Since the patient expired before the date of issue of circular and was resident of Bathinda, Punjab, as per identity proof provided by him, the Haryana state package rates were not applicable. We are completely aligned with government policies and patient bills are prepared as per the guidelines issued by government authorities.

“In this national pandemic, we are firmly standing alongside the government in fighting it and serving the patients.”