Health commission sees red in 26.6 lakh hospital bill in 33 days
Times of India | 12 March 2026
Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) asked the Director Health Services (DHS) to form a high power committee to scrutinise a bill by a private hospital after the commission found the bill "unethically" high.
On Wednesday, the commission directed the hospital to deposit the entire amount of Rs 26,64,000 it charged from a deceased's family until the commission pronounces its final verdict in the case.
According to a complaint lodged with the health panel, Sutapa Dey (50) of Konnagar was admitted to ILS Hospital Howrah on Dec 14 last year in a critical condition. The patient died 33 days later, and the family was handed a bill of a little over Rs 26,64,000, for which they pleaded with the commission to intervene.
"That means the charges per day were around 80,000, whereas we found that there was no surgical intervention, but only a few small procedures. The bill shows doctor visit fees alone amounting to Rs 2,41,000. Even charges for medicine and the investigative tests are extremely high. The hospital could not justify this extremely high bill," said Justice (Retd) Asim Kumar Banerjee, chairman, WBCERC.
Earlier, the commission asked the hospital to settle the issue by waiving off a reasonable amount.
However, the hospital refunded a sum of only Rs 39,000 to the family, which the commission observed was not enough. The health panel also found that medicine and consumables alone were billed at over Rs 11 lakh.
"We will deal with this issue with zero tolerance. We asked the DHS to form a high power committee, including medical experts, who will scrutinise the bill to come out with a figure that could be charged from the family. The hospital has to refund the rest of the amount. Until the report of analysis comes to us, the hospital will deposit the entire amount in the bank as a fixed deposit," added Banerjee.