Fortis and IVY Penalty of Rs 1 lakh on hospital
Chandigarh. The State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission Punjab has found Fortis and IVY guilty of negligence in service and contempt of the Right to Life Act. Hospitals have been ordered to give Rs 1 lakh each as compensation to the patient’s family. Also asked to ensure that such negligence is not done in future. The hospitals which are registered under the Ex-Servicemen Health Scheme of the Central Government, get very low expenses for the treatment of the patient.
This is the reason why private hospitals falling under the purview of the said scheme avoid providing treatment under the Ex-Servicemen Health Scheme. A similar case has come to light, in which a woman was shifted to ICU from the Military Hospital of Ambala. He was admitted to the hospital and referred for better treatment but Mohali’s Fortus Hospital and I.V.Y. The doctors of the hospital ICU. Sent back citing no bed. The said female patient died due to not getting emergency treatment. In the appeal filed by the Ambala resident daughter of a woman named Wash Devi, the court was told that if her mother was taken to ICU at the right time.
Had he got a bed, he would not have died. Vash Devi’s health deteriorated on September 10, 2016, and she was admitted to the ICU in the Military Hospital of Ambala. Was admitted in. They got G.I. There was a need for a surgeon and a cardiac doctor. Seeing his health deteriorating, the doctors referred him to the hospital under the Ex-Serviceman Scheme, where he was admitted to I.V.Y. on 13 September 2016. He was brought to the hospital in Mohali, where the doctors opened the ICU. Saying that there were no vacant beds, a list of 14 other hospitals covered under the said scheme was given. When the family reached Fort with the patient, there was an ICU there too.
The patient was sent back without treatment citing the absence of a bed. The family members again took the patient to the Military Hospital, Ambala, where seeing his condition worsening at night, the doctors again referred him to a bigger hospital. The family took the patient to Indus Hospital Derabassi, where he died after some time. In this regard, the daughter of deceased Wash Devi had complained to the Punjab Medical Council but the council did not take any action by issuing advisories to both the hospitals.
The daughter of the deceased complained to the District Consumer Commission Fatehgarh Sahib, where both the hospitals denied any kind of negligence and cited that the beds were not vacant. Giving relief to them, the court rejected the petition of the deceased’s daughter Usha on November 30, 2021. After this, Usha filed an appeal in the State Commission, where while hearing the case, the bench comprising Justice Daya Chaudhary and Simarjot Kaur said that the hospitals had shifted the patient to ICU under the Ex-Serviceman Health Scheme. The admission was not done on the pretext that the bed was not vacant, which is a contempt of the common man’s right to life and right to health under Article 21. The court has ordered both the hospitals to give compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the patient’s family within 45 days. The court has also said that it should be ensured that such negligence does not happen in future.
