Hospital under government scanner for charging nearly Rs 16 lakh for dengue patient's treatment
By
Prabha Raghavan
NEW DELHI: The health ministry has decided to look into allegations that Gurugram-based Fortis Memorial Research Institute overcharged the family of a seven-year-old dengue patient admitted there for a fortnight. The child's treatment cost an average of over Rs 1 lakh every day at Fortis before she was discharged and shifted to another hospital that declared her dead, according to her family.
At the same time, Fortis has denied the allegations against it, claiming it followed proper protocols and kept the family apprised of the progress in treatment and related charges throughout.
Following a series of tweets by a person who knows the family, Indian health minister JP Nadda has sought details of the case so that the government could investigate the issue.
"Please provide me details on hfwminister@gov.in. We will take all the necessary action," tweeted the minister on Monday morning. On August 31, seven-year-old Adya Singh was admitted to Fortis Memorial with 'severe dengue', which soon progressed to 'dengue shock syndrome'—a complication of dengue infection that is associated with high mortality. Adya, the daughter of a Dwarka-based IT professional, Jayant Singh, spent close to 15 days at the Gurugram hospital on ventilator support.
ET has used the patient and her father's name in this article with permission from the family. Each day the seven-year-old girl was at the hospital, her father would get a text message specifying the total amount he was being billed for her treatment, he said. At the same time, he alleged that he was never given a daily break-up of the expenses despite asking for the same.
By the time she was discharged, Singh had racked up nearly Rs 16 lakh in bills from Fortis, including costs for diagnostics, medication and hundreds of gloves and syringes. "I have asked them for a day-by-day break-up (of the charges). Till date, they have not given me this (break-up) or the case file. They've only given the consolidated bill," he said.
In addition to this, Singh alleged that the hospital refused repeated requests by the family to conduct an MRI when Adya did not regain consciousness even 2-3 days after being taken off sedatives.
When the MRI was finally conducted on September 14, he claims the doctors provided conflicting opinions—one doctor admitted that 70-80% of her brain was damaged and that it was best to take her off life support, while another had separately told his wife to consider a full-body plasma transplant.
"One doctor was saying that nothing can be done and we should let her rest in peace, while another was suggesting alternative treatments," he said.
When the family finally moved to discharge the child and transfer her to another hospital on September 14, Fortis refused to provide them with an ambulance, claimed Singh. On top of this, the family was made to wait several hours for the final bill, he added.
"They removed the ventilators in the ambulance and, at that very moment in front of their doctors, my baby died," said Singh.
The entire incident has prompted Singh to consider legal action against the Gurugram hospital. "The way I was treated on the last day was agonizing. It was a kind of harassment," he told ET. "
In its defense, Fortis has stated that the family decided to discharge Adya against its medical advice.
"On 14th September, (2017), family decided to take her (Adya) away from the hospital against medical advice (LAMA – Leave Against Medical Advice) and she succumbed the same day," a Fortis spokesperson said in an official statement. The family was kept informed of Adya's critical condition and the "poor prognosis in these situations" and the hospital had counselled the family daily on her condition, the spokesperson said.
Adya was treated in the Paediatric ICU (PICU) for 15 days and was critical right from the time of admission, which warranted intensive monitoring, according to the spokesperson.
"All standard medical protocols were followed in treating the patient and all clinical guidelines were were adhered to," stated the spokesperson, adding that an itemized bill spread over 20 pages was explained and handed over to the family at the time of their departure from the hospital.
Treatment during these 15 days included mechanical ventilation, high frequency ventilation, continuous renal replacement therapy, intravenous antibiotics, inotropes, sedation and analgesia, according to the hospital.
The spokesperson denied allegations that the hospital inflated the number and costs of the consumables like gloves and syringes used on the seven-year-old during her treatment.
"Care of ventilated patients in ICU requires a high number of consumables as per globally accepted infection control protocols. All consumables are transparently reflected in records and charged as per actuals," the person said.
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