After temporarily closing down 19 hospitals for not handing over 50% of beds under the government quota, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has filed cases against four major hospitals in the city.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad told reporters here on Friday that cases had been booked under sections of the Disaster Management Act against St. Martha’s Hospital, Rangadore Memorial Hospital, Shifaa Hospital, and Fortis Hospital.
The civic body had recently issued show-cause notices to 291 private hospitals in the city after finding that many had failed to hand over beds. The hospitals were required to provide details of bed availability.
“After the show-cause notices were issued, many hospitals have come forward and handed over the beds under the government quota,” he said and added that private hospitals could also have an internal arrangement among themselves for the bed quota.
“For instance, if five hospitals put together have a total of 200 beds, they may hand over one hospital with 100 beds under government quota. We will take into account such arrangements as well,” he said.
Told to refund
Meanwhile, the BBMP on Friday inspected Vikaram Hospital and found that they were charging ₹5,500 for CB-NAAT test. As many as 44 patients were charged more than what is prescribed by the ICMR and the government of Karnataka. The BBMP then directed the hospital to refund the excess amount charged and the hospital management agreed. The hospital, in a statement, said they were willing to incur loss and conduct CB-NAAT test at RT-PCR rates.
