5 private hospitals on radar after complaints about medical negligence, inflated bills

New Delhi, December, 2016

When Ramjeet Rathore was rushed to a premier private hospital after suffering injuries in a road accident, he expected first-class care. What he got instead, he claims, were apathy and a mammoth bill. Ramjeet's complaint is one among dozens that the Delhi Medical Council is examining with the city's top five private hospitals also under the scanner.

PATIENT CARE LACKING

"Within nine days, my family was given a medical bill of Rs 11 lakh when I was in a private ward," the resident of south Delhi's Badarpur area told Mail Today. "And when I was unable to pay the huge bills, I was shifted to a free ward, where doctors are not very serious about patient care and rarely visit. These private hospitals just want to make huge bills."

Max Hospital (Saket and Shalimar Bagh), Fortis Flt. Lt. Rajan Dhall Hospital, Apollo Hospital, BLK Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital are on the alleged-offenders list. Mail Today sought a reaction from Apollo on the Ramjeet case but the hospital did not respond. The institute was at the centre of a row this year when some of its personnel were accused of running a kidney-for-cash syndicate in connivance with some touts.

DMC registrar Dr Girish Tyagi said the council received 253 complaints of medical faults by doctors in 2015 and the incidents are being looked into. Devashish Bhattacharyya, who is a doctor by profession, alleged medical negligence on part of Fortis Flt. Lt. Rajan Dhall Hospital. "My father was intentionally administered wrong treatment due to which I had to move him in a very serious condition to some other hospital," he said. "Had the doctors at Fortis Hospital provided my father with appropriate treatment, he would have been alive today," added Bhattacharyya, who has filed a complaint to DMC regarding the matter.

NO RESPONSE FROM HOSPITALS

The hospital authorities did not respond to the questions from Mail today. The Fortis Hospital at Shalimar Bagh was in the news this year over reports of operating on the wrong leg of a patient. On October 26, Rohini sector-13 resident Balwan Singh lodged a complaint against Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh. A similar, complaint was registered on November 2 against the hospital's Saket branch by a patient, Harsh Gupta, who hails from Ghaziabad in Uttar Prasdesh. When contacted, Max Hospital said, "Max Hospitals take allegations of medical negligence very seriously and if there is any adverse remarks from DMC against any doctor, the hospital takes appropriate action."

Kaushal Mudgal, a patient from Gwalior who came to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in October, registered a complaint against the institute. The hospital administration told Mail today, "Since the complaint is under consideration, we cannot comment. However, the hospital has its own ethics committee, which deals with such issues and takes the matters very seriously."

BLK hospital refused to comment on the matter. Among other private hospitals, Moolchand, Rockland and Indian Spinal Injuries Centre are also being probed over complaints. Government institutes such as Hindu Rao Hospital, GTB Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Hedgewar Hospital, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia and AIIMS are also on the list, said a DMC official. Indiatoday