Kolkata hospital allegedly withholds critical patient until family surrenders fixed deposit papers

According to reports, nearly 30-year-old Sanjay Ray, who was a resident of Dankuni in Kolkata's neighbouring Hooghly district of West Bengal, was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash and had been admitted to Apollo Gleneagles in a critical condition on Feb 16.

Few hours after the admission, he was shifted to ventilation and until Feb 23 evening, he was being treated there.

When the amount of his treatment-bill crossed 7.23 lakh rupees in just seven days, family members decided to shift him to state-owned SSKM hospital.

Family members of the 30-year-old claimed that the private nursing home forced them to surrender all documents relating to fixed deposits and their residence's registered deed as Sanjay Ray's family could not pay the entire bill that time.

After submitting all documents before the hospital, Sanjay Ray was released from Apollo and shifted to SSKM on Thursday late evening.

But it was too late, the youth reportedly passed away at SSKM few hours later at midnight.      

Following the incident, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader former West Bengal Sports and Transport Minister Madan Mitra talked to the CEO of Apollo Geleagles hospital over phone in presence of media on Friday afternoon and threatened him to shut their operations in the city if they don't refund the treatment cost to Sanjay Ray's family members.

However, denying all allegations against them, authority of Apollo Gleneagles asserted to refund the amount, paid so far by Sanjay's family.

"We did not force them to surrender fixed deposit's papers, they willingly submitted those before us," a senior official of Apollo Gleneagles hospital told IBNS.

"The man was very critical and we had to treat him under ventilation support. We treated the man until his treatment began at SSKM," the official added.

Meanwhile, People for Better Treatment (PBT), a Kolkata-based patients' organisation to fight for a better healthcare system, has lodged a complaint against Apollo Gleneagles hospital at a local police station in the evening for its alleged negligence in treating Sanjay Ray and for pressuring his family to pay a huge bill to shift him to another hospital.

Till the last update came in, state health department has asked the private hospital to submit a report on this matter.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)