Hospital stops Covid-19 patient’s treatment demanding payment

A Covid-19 patient admitted to a private hospital in the city on Wednesday found her medication cut off abruptly on Saturday morning after hospital staff demanded payment to restart the treatment.

The 37-year-old from BTM Layout had been admitted to the private Comfort Multispecialty Hospital in CV Raman Nagar under the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) scheme.

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She was suffering from breathlessness, a late-stage symptom of the disease reported in at least 726 of 1,106 Covid-19 deaths since May 26, when the symptom was first disclosed to the public.

Although patients admitted to private hospitals under SAST are obligated to free treatment, the patient said that her treatment was stopped by staff, demanding that medical services would only be resumed after she paid hospital fees since the day of her admittance.

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‘It was a mistake’

Contacted by DH, the hospital first denied having treated the patient. However, later, Dr Jacquelin, the hospital’s point of contact for Covid-19 services, admitted it made a mistake in the case.

“We have two Covid-19 patients with the same name at the hospital. The other patient is a private patient whose medical bills were due. An error was made by our pharmacy staff who thought the SAST patient had bill arrears,” Dr Jacquelin said. “We are restarting her care immediately.”

The patient, who had trouble picking up the phone as she was not breathing properly, later confirmed that her treatment had been restored.