The Pune district collectorate has promised a probe into a complaint that Surya Hospital claimed cost of medical treatment from a victim of the German Bakery blast in spite of clear instructions that victims were not to be troubled for payment.
The Pune district collectorate has promised a probe into a complaint that Surya Hospital claimed cost of medical treatment from a victim of the German Bakery blast in spite of clear instructions that victims were not to be troubled for payment.
The case relates to Saqr Al-Bethany, a 28-year-old Yemeni who suffered 45% burns in the February 13, 2010, blast and was admitted to Surya Hospital from February 13 to March 2. At least 17 people were killed and more than 60 injured in the blast.
Showing receipts of payments made to Surya Hospital, Al-Bethany told DNA he had paid “more than Rs32,000” to the hospital and for the past eight months had been urging it to reimburse the amount. He pointed out that the hospital was not supposed to have charged him for treatment in the first place.
Al-Bethany, who is a boxer and runs his own gym said, “I was in bad shape and was one of the seriously injured victims. When I was taken to Surya Hospital for treatment, they denied admission, asking us to pay first. On this condition, one of my best friends sold his car and wristwatch to get me admitted. We have paid more than Rs 32,000 to the hospital
authorities for my treatment.”
The Yemeni said that although more than eight months have passed, the hospital’s administrator, Mahesh Kulkarni, who had been approached several times for a refund, has
either kept promising or ignoring his phone calls. “He never tells me when the refund would be made. I feel I am being harassed by the hospital,” Al-Bethany said.
Kulkarni acknowledged that Surya Hospital had treated two victims of the German Bakery blast. “We have claimed more than Rs1 lakh from the government but are yet to be compensated. We treated only two victims and one of them was Saqr. He does not understand anything and is a fool,” Kulkarni said mockingly.
Kulkarni said that although the hospital has been waiting for compensation from the district collectorate and has been regularly following up, “we are being given an excuse almost
everyday.”.
At the district collectorate, tehesildar Shubhada Shinde, who has been handling compensation for German Bakery victims, told DNA that the tragic incident “was an emergency and a mass casualty and no hospital should have asked for or accepted money from the victims. Surya Hospital should reimburse the amount they have taken from the victim. The government will anyway compensate the hospital for the cost of treatment they have claimed,” she said.
Speaking to DNA, district collector Chandrakant Dalvi said, “If Surya Hospital is found to be at fault and if the victim’s claims are found to be genuine, strict action will be taken against the hospital. But before that a meeting with the civil surgeon and the medical committee — comprising BJ Medical College dean Dr Arun Jamkar — will be called. Surya Hospital will also be questioned and details will be verified,” Dalvi said.
Surya Hospital, which was recently acquired by the Sahyadri Group of Hospitals, is a 100-bed hospital, of which 15 are reserved for burns patients. The hospital is located in Kasba Peth, near Shaniwarwada.
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