If you or a loved one ever get admitted to a private hospital in the city, here is one piece of news you must read. Hospitals in the city have turned into a favorite hang-out for conmen robbing patients and their relatives.
After several incidents of conmen posing as doctors or staffers decamping with jewellery or asking them to deposit money into an unidentified account, hospitals say there is one more lesser known modus operandi that patients should be aware of.
People posing as social workers or even hospital junior staffers approach relatives of admitted patients claiming to get them heavy discounts in their bill or get the case treated on a charity basis.
At Ruby Hall Clinic, chief security officer Satishkumar Bhatia said that on several occasions, the social work department has reported such cases in the past. “These people have no association with the hospital whatsoever nor have the authority to get the bill amount reduced. But they approach the patient claiming to get the job done and maybe have an arrangement to get some monetary compensation for the same. In some cases, people approach us claiming to be political or social workers asking to get bill amount reduced,” said Bhatia.
Another private hospital that had seen such cases was Jehangir Hospital where CEO George Eapen said a slew of measures have been taken to curb such incidents.
“Initially there were quite a few of these cases and then we spruced up the security ensuring that we get no unwanted ‘regular’ visitors or people without any business hang on the premises. In fact we have handed over a few of these so-called social workers to the police as well,” he said.
At another private hospital, a senior administrator said that after one such recent incident that occurred, the patient’s relatives were asked to report the case but they refused.
“Even patient’s relatives do not co-operate with us. They are either scared of police formalities or they think that the amount is not worth wasting time. Conmen are taking advantage of this attitude of people,” she said.
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