Hospital charges male malaria patient Rs 1,400 for pregnancy sonography
Hospital charges male malaria patient Rs 1,400 for pregnancy sonography
The owners ofu00a0Future Studios are outraged with Sanjeevani Hospital, Malad, for getting their male housekeeping worker pregnant. On discharge, the hospital presented Soren, who was being treated for malaria there, with a bill of over Rs 40,000, and listed a pregnancy sonography for Rs 1,400 as one of several billed items.
"We are shocked, when the accountant rudely refused to explain why we were being charged for a pregnancy sonography. The hospital management knew we were footing the poor boy's bills and decided it was a good opportunity to make a fast buck by inflating the bill," complains Archana Shourie, part owner of Future Studio in Malad.
Shourie alleges that the hospital also charged Soren twice for nursing fees. "We had sent a relatively uneducated employee to collect the bill. The hospital employees probably decided they could mislead him. I can't believe someone would attempt to loot an underprivileged patient in this manner," said Shourie who got Soren shifted to Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon.
MiD DAY visited Soren who is still recuperating in the ICU at Siddharth Hospital. "I was unconscious for most of the time I was there. I don't know if any tests have been done but the staff here are taking good care of me," said Soren, who has been living in Mumbai for over a year now.
Hospital staff insists that their only mistake is a typo in the bill. "The issue is being unnecessarily raked up. The patient's employers want to escape paying up for the patient's treatment. We're not foolish. Of course, we know male patients can't be pregnant," said Dr Rajesh Binyala of the Sanjeevani Hospital.
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