Consumer forum fines Thane physiotherapist

The Thane district consumer forum on Friday penalised a Thane physiotherapist for failing to hand over the required medical bills as well as the prescription she had given to one of her patients in 2011.

The forum has directed the practitioner to cough up Rs25,000, for the patient's mental agony, and hand over the important documents to him.

The complainant and Thane resident Bhupesh Patel had approached Dr Manali Dixit in November 2011 for physiotherapy for his father, who had suffered a paralytic stroke. Dixit, after going through the medical report of Patel's father, decided to visit his place daily for the treatment at a charge of Rs400 a day. She gave Patel's father treatment for three months and, accordingly, charged him Rs24,000.

As per the complaint copy, in December 2011, when Patel realised that his office would reimburse medical bills for treatment undertaken by the company's employees and their family members, he requested Dixit to give him a proper report of her treatment, which would include the prescription as well as bills of the entire treatment.

The forum, after going though Patel's version, asked Dixit to file her say. She claimed that as she used to go to the complainant's home for giving treatment, she can't issue bills in such a case. She also claimed that Patel, at one point, even asked her to issue a bill of Rs1,000 instead of Rs400, which she refused to do.

The forum, after going through the arguments placed on record, maintained that it was the doctor's duty to issue her patient a proper report and bills, and by not doing so, she has failed to provide the required services to her consumer.