After Gurugram-based Fortis hospital was accused of charging the family of a seven-year-old dengue patient, who later died, almost Rs 18 lakh for 15 days in the ICU, Union Health Minister JP Nadda assured "necessary action" against the hospital on Monday.
The family of the deceased, Adya Singh, alleged that the doctors continued her treatment in the ICU, in full knowledge that her condition had deteriorated beyond cure.
"The doctors kept the child in ICU for so many days, but her brain had already damaged gradually which the doctors deliberately did not test. They continued the treatment knowing that her brain was dead," Jayant Singh, father of the deceased told ANI.
The story came to light after the friend of the child's father tweeted the incident with the exorbitant bill.
JP Nadda reacted to the thread saying assuring that strict action would be taken against the hospital authorities.
Singh alleged that the doctors in Fortis Hospital finally conducted an MRI test on his insistence, and told the family that "nothing could be done anymore as her brain was 70 to 80 percent dead."
The father of the victim also said that they were slapped a bill of Rs 16 lakh without a day-wise breakdown.
After the patient's death, the hospital also allegeldy denied an ambulance for the deceased child and refused to give a death certificate citing that the rule of Leaving Against Medical Advice (LAMA) had applied in this case. The family was also told to get a birth certificate from another hospital, alleged the father.
"Now I find that the rule cited is wrong," Singh added.
Singh informed that the child was first admitted to Rockland Hospital, and later shifted to Fortis Hospital, but cause of her death has not been accounted in either of the hospitals.
"Fortis has not reported the casualty and Rockland gave me a 'brought dead' certificate. None of the hospitals has mentioned the cause of death as dengue," he said.
The grieving father further urged the medical fraternity to investigate the matter and determine if the case was of deliberate negligence in order to cheat them of money or the 15-day treatment was actually justified.
The hospital, however, has denied all the allegations in a statement to Outlook. "All standard medical protocols were followed in treating the patient and all clinical guidelines were adhered to," said the hospital in a statement.
It also said that the deceased child was moved from the hospital "against the medical advice" that further led to her death. "The family was kept informed of the critical condition of the child and the poor prognosis in these situations. As a process, we counselled the family daily on the condition of the child. On 14th September, 17, family decided to take her away from the hospital against medical advice (LAMA – Leave Against Medical Advice) and she succumbed the same day."
"An itemized bill spread over 20 pages was explained and handed over to the family at the time of their departure from the hospital. Patient was treated in the Paediatric ICU (PICU) for 15 days and was critical right from the time of admission requiring Intensive monitoring. Treatment during these 15 days included mechanical ventilation, high frequency ventilation, continuous renal replacement therapy, intravenous antibiotics, inotropes, sedation and analgesia. 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."
With ANI Inputs
