52 years old Anil Kumar, a Covid-19 positive patient was admitted to RJ Super Speciality Hospital at Haryana’s Bahadurgarh on April 25. But around 24 hours later, he lost the battle against the deadly virus and his aggrieved family was handed over a bill of `84300.

The family had already paid `20000 at the time of admission and was told to cough up another ` 64300 to complete the formalities for the release of the body.

“We knew the charges levied by the hospital were excessive and above the government-capped rates but there was no other option and we had to pay them at that time,” says Rahul Sahdev (28), son-in-law of deceased Anil Kumar.

As the country is facing its worst health emergency amid the sharp spike in Covid-19 cases, this Delhi based family had brought the patient to Haryana in a hope to get affordable medical treatment and better health facilities. However, all hopes of the family had shattered, when their sole breadwinner breathed his last on April 26.

Sharing his dilemma, Rahul tells The Pioneer that the family members, who live in Najafgarh had decided to shift his father-in-law from Mata Chanan Devi Hospital in Delhi’s Janakpuri to RJ Super Speciality Hospital in Bahadurgarh as they were told that the cost of treatment is much lesser there as compared to the Delhi’s hospital. Unfortunately, we ended up paying a much higher cost of treatment at RJ Hospital and even lost our family member, he adds.

According to the bill details of RJ Hospital, Anil Kumar, a comorbid patient was admitted at 4.19 pm on April 25, died at 6.29 pm on April 26 and his body was handed over to his family members at 8.42 am on April 27.

In the time span of around 24 hours during his treatment, Anil was initially admitted to ICU without ventilator care (with hospital facility and consumables) on April 25 costing Rs 30000 and was then shifted to ICU with ventilator care on April 26 costing Rs 50000.  The bill also mentions file charges and other pathology services.

“We had really struggled to pay the remainder of the bill. My father-in-law used to work as a cab driver and was the family’s sole breadwinner. His wife is a homemaker and 22 years old son is a student,” Rahul shares.

Alleging that at the time of admission, the hospital authorities had informed them that charges for ICU bed with ventilator will be Rs 20000, he tells, “Accordingly, we had paid Rs 20000 at RJ Hospital at around 4 pm and went back to Delhi to shift my father-in-law to Bahadurgarh for the treatment. We had actually shifted him from Delhi’s hospital to RJ Hospital between 7:30 pm -8 pm on April 25. He did not even get treatment for the entire 24 hours in the hospital and we were handed over a bill of Rs 84300 after his demise.”

The discharge records from Mata Chanan Devi Hospital in Delhi corroborates Rahul’s claim as it shows that the patient was discharged at 7.22 pm on April 25 from the hospital. The family had paid Rs 48355 for Anil Kumar’s treatment that had begun on April 23 in this hospital.

Rahul tells, “Apart from a bill of Rs 84300 at RJ Hospital, we also paid more than Rs 10000 for medicines, but we did not ask for a copy of the bills as our entire focus was on the treatment of my father-in-law.”

Showing his call records, Rahul further says, “We made calls to the police and even to the RJ Hospital’s chairman to get help in the time of crisis but could not connect to anyone.”

Such stories have become a common scenario in the country now as the private hospitals are charging exorbitant amounts of money in the garb of utmost safety and care during COVID-19 treatment.

Both Delhi and Haryana are witnessing an unprecedented surge in daily COVID-19 cases and deaths during the second wave of pandemic and family members of COVID patients are often seen jostling to get beds, medicines and oxygen support for the treatment.

When contacted, Rajesh Joon, chairman, RJ Super Speciality Hospital said that he is hospitalized and will not be able to comment on the issue.

Commenting on the complaints of overcharging by private hospitals, Haryana Home-cum-Health Minister Anil Vij had recently said that the standardised per-day charges for COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals is fixed at Rs 8000-18,000 by the State Government and action will be taken against those overcharging for the treatment.

On June 25 last year, Haryana Government had fixed per day rates in hospitals accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare providers (NABH) at Rs 10,000 for isolation bed, including supportive care and oxygen; Rs 15,000 for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed without ventilator and Rs 18,000 for ICU bed with ventilator. Likewise, the rates in non-NABH accredited hospitals are Rs 8000, Rs 13,000 and Rs 15,000, respectively for the same services.However, another order was issued on September 18 stating that the standardised per-day charges for COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals (Rs 8000-18,000) fixed by the State Government in June will now be applicable only to Haryana residents. Alas, people continue to suffer due to excessive treatment cost charged by private hospitals, in the absence of any structured grievance redressal system amid the COVID-19 pandemic.