RHRC orders govt to pay Rs 1.5 lakh to poor patient over denial of free treatment

  • | Saturday | 22nd January, 2022

Jaipur, Jan 22 (PTI) The Rajasthan Human Rights Commission has ordered the state government to give a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh to a BPL category man who was treated in a government hospital at Kota as a non-BPL patient and charged Rs 90,000. The commission gave the order on a complaint of local resident Purshottam Bhargava, who underwent angioplasty for a heart blockage in December 2019 in Kota’s New Medical College Hospital (NMCH). Bhargava alleged in his complaint that Dr Hansraj Meena refused his registration as a BPL man and state"s Bhamashah health insurance beneficiary, saying it will take 48 hours to get the approval for treatment under the BPL category and the patient may die by then. The complainant alleged that the doctor forced his family to arrange Rs 65,000 immediately for angioplasty. The family somehow arranged the money and handed it over to a person inside the operation theatre as directed by Dr Meena. After one stent was inserted, Dr demanded Rs 25,000 more for the second stent. This amount was also given as per the demand, the complainant said, adding he would not have had to give the money had he been treated under the BPL category. The commission ordered the Rajasthan Health Department to form an inquiry committee. The five-member committee, set up on the RHRC’s order in February 2020 claimed that the allegations were baseless and it was mentioned in the bed head ticket that the patient was not a Bhamashah beneficiary. The commission expressed displeasure over the report while observing that the complainant was not heard. On the direction of the commission, the committee conducted a secnd inquiry and concluded that a contractual employee who was at the counter had mentioned in the record that he was not a Bhamashah beneficiary. That is why the benefit of being a Bhamashah cardholder could not be passed on to the patient and the cost for stents was charged. RHRC member Mahesh Goyal, during the hearing on January 13, said the patient was not given the benefit despite being a Bhamashah beneficiary. He said the allegations against the doctor and the hospital administration cannot be considered baseless. Goyal issued instructions to the state government to give Rs 1.5 lakh, Rs 90,000 which the patient had to spend, and Rs 60,000 as compensation, in the next two months. The commission also directed the government to fix the accountability of lapse in the case after a detailed enquiry and recover the compensation amount from the salary of the person responsible for making a hapless poor patient for his treatment amid a threat to his life. PTI SDA RAX RAX


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