A private hospital refused to hand over body of a 13-year-old patient to kin over pending bills. The incident came to light on Tuesday, when family members approached district administration in jansunwai and lodged a complaint against the hospital in Rajendra Nagar. The family claimed that they had to sell their house to settle hospital bill of Rs 19 lakh. However, the hospital administration was demanding another Rs 2.40 lakh for handing over the body.
“The hospital administration handed over the body only after the intervention of an SDM. The officer had directed the hospital to give the body within half-an-house,” said patient’s uncle Ritesh Solanki. According to reports, Saloni Chouhan was undergoing treatment at the hospital for the last four months for Gulian Berry Syndrome.
“On Tuesday, we came to know that our patient is already dead. However, the hospital administration had kept her on ventilator just to extort money. When we demanded that she be discharged, they raised a bill of Rs 2.40 lakh,” said Solanki. “We have paid Rs 19 lakh in last four months to the hospital but still they asked us to clear the latest bill before handing over the body,” he said. After SDM’s intervention, the body was handed over to the family and the last rites were performed at Bijalpur crematorium.