New Delhi: Private hospital charged exorbitant fees, claims kin of dengue victim

The family members of the 36-year-old woman who succumbed to dengue on Sunday night has alleged that the private hospital where she died, charged exorbitant fees and also refused to hand over the body till they paid the money. The body was handed over after the police and media intervened, they said, while the hospital claimed that they handed over the body the same night even though a large part of the bill was yet to be paid. With her death, the death toll due to dengue in the national capital has risen to 22 though the official death toll, according to a municipal report released on Monday is 17.

According to family members of the deceased Anita Sharma, she was admitted to Max hospital in Saket after being taken to three other hospitals.

"First we took her to Guru Teg Bahadur hospital after she complained of fever where doctors did not carry out any tests. They just gave her medicine and sent her back home. When her condition deteriorated, we took her to a private hospital in Dilshad Garden where she tested positive for dengue. From there we rushed her to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital. The emergency ward there was overcrowded and Anita meanwhile had began gasping, so we shifted her to Max hospital where she died of dengue shock syndrome last night," said a family member.

"The Max hospital asked us to pay more than Rs 5 lakh to claim the body. We had already paid Rs 1.5 lakh when she was admitted to the ICU on September 16. Then after the media and police intervened, the hospital authorities handed over the body," the family member alleged.

Max hospital, in a statement, said that the patient was brought to the hospital in critical condition on September 16.

"She was shifted to the ICU on diagnosis of severe dengue and multiple organ failure. Through the course of her treatment, 8 sessions of detailed counselling and communication were done with the immediate family members where her critical condition and future course of treatment was explained. Despite best medical attention, she passed away on September 20 late night. As per our norms, the body was handed over to the family the same night. A large part of the treatment bill is still unsettled," said Max in its statement.