1,115 payment-related complaints of Covid patients, their kin resolved: BMC

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday said that it has so far settled 1,115 payment-related complaints from Covid-19 patients or their relatives who were admitted to 37 private hospitals in the city for treatment. The hospital-appointed municipal auditors have processed an amount of about Rs 1.47 crore back to the patients' accounts.
The total amount levied on patients in all these complaints was Rs 14.01 crore.
After the audit of these payments by municipal officials of the corporation, the actual amount was reduced to Rs 12.54 crore. In other words, the total amount of levy was reduced by around 1.47 crore.
The Maharashtra government had in the month of May issued a notification taking over 80% beds in private hospitals and nursing homes across the state and also capped treatment charges. The charges for a Covid-19 patient in the general isolation ward cannot be more than Rs 4,000 a day, the maximum charge for an ICU (for (intensive care unit) is capped at Rs 7,500 a day, and for ventilators are capped at Rs 9,000 a day.
Following the same, BMC appointed its municipal auditors at over 35 private hospitals in the city like Jaslok, Bombay Hospital, Wockhardt and Saifee Hospital where Covid patients are receiving treatment.
The BMC has also provided an option for patients or their relatives to lodge any complaint or suggestion regarding a private hospital via email. For this, a complaint can be lodged directly by email with the concerned municipal auditors and state government appointed IAS officers who have been appointed for this purpose.
BMC officials also said that they are in the process of auditing the remaining complaints received regarding hospital bills and are focusing on resolving them immediately.