4 days ago
90% plaints against private hosps this yr about billing
Kolkata: Around 90% of the 2,058 complaints against private hospitals, nursing homes and other clinical establishments—this works out to be nine out of 10 complaints—that reached the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission this year till May pertain to billing issues.
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"Most of the complaints we received pertain to billing, making it important to make the billing system transparent. While our order was in the form of an advisory, the govt's move will make it a law," said WBCERC chairperson Ashim Kumar Banerjee. The advisory Banerjee mentioned was the one issued by the health panel in 2020, asking private facilities to set up display boards with details, such as package, rates for OPD, bed, doctor fees.
The Bengal govt on Monday moved a bill in the state assembly, seeking to make it mandatory for private health facilities not to inflate their fixed treatment rates, including packages, with hidden charges. The bill says for treatment costs not covered under fixed rates, the patient party must be informed of the possible costs and any rise must be communicated within 24 hours. The bill mandates that the rates must be properly displayed at hospitals and on websites.
While private hospitals appreciated the state decision to move to The West Bengal Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) (Amendment) Bill 2025, they said they hoped it would be practical. "This is a good move by the govt as there needs to be some form of regulation, especially in the billing part so that hidden charges are not extracted from patients," said Peerless Hospital CEO Sudipta Mitra.
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Most private hospitals in Kolkata have boards displaying charges on certain packages, bed charges, doctor fees, OPD rates. But hospitals pointed out it was not possible to display all the charges, especially those of tests, that numbered beyond 2,000. "Due to these billing disputes, the public has a negative idea about private hospitals. We are yet to know the nitty-gritty of this move, but such a step towards making transparent billing is welcome," said Subhashis Datta, GM (operations), Ruby General Hospital.
In the bill, the state has also tried to address the inordinate delay in issuing or renewing licences to private hospitals, proposing to cap it at 90 days. "We don't want private facilities to suffer for the want of licence renewal unnecessarily. If they don't get a renewed licence from the department within 90 days, it can be extended for 90 more days. This is a temporary measure. We have brought an amendment with more stringent measures, under which the govt will ensure the licence application will be disposed of within the period," said Chandrima Bhattacharya, junior health minister.
