Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad administration has formed a three-member committee to audit bills generated by private hospitals for Covid patients during the second wave.
The hospitals in the city have been asked to provide five bills of the highest amounts issues to patients in the past two months.
The health department has received over 20 complaints of overcharging by patients’ kin during this period.
According to officials, over Rs 10 lakh has been returned by private hospitals so far following scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the private hospitals have been given time till June 25 to submit the bills.
The three selected members of the committee were Ghaziabad municipal corporation commissioner Mahendra Singh Tanwar, chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta, chief treasury officer Laxmi Mishra.
However, Dr Gupta nominated GMC health officer Mithilesh Kumar on his behalf.
Sources said the committee was formed after public representatives, including MLAs, complained to the district administration about overbilling private medical facilities.
“The inquiry is the outcome of a huge outcry over the issue and the public representatives pressing upon the administration to take action against the hospitals.
During the second wave, when the medical facilities were overwhelmed, the hospitals did not entertain requests of many senior functionaries as well,” said a senior official.
However, the Indian Medical Association termed the audit an “arm-twisting” measure.
“During the second wave, out of around 60 Covid hospitals, 50 were private ones.
The staff and doctors worked day and night and saved so many lives.
The authorities forget that human resources and equipment do not come cheap.
The staff demanded a three-fold hike in their salaries even as equipment prices had sky-rocketed.
While conducting the auditing, these factors should also be considered,” Dr Ashish Agarwal, IMA president (Ghaziabad) said.
“Hospitals are never consulted by the government for fixing the rates for treatment.
Many hospital owners said it would be very difficult for them to contribute in the future and would like to work as non-Covid facilities,” Dr Agarwal added.