Health panel orders hosps to pay 36L for lapses

Kolkata: The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission ordered a hospital in Behala to pay compensation of 30 lakh after finding serious lapses in patient care in two cases. The panel also ordered another hospital in Mukundapur to refund the total bill charged to the family of a deceased patient.In the first case, a 53-year-old man was admitted with epigastric pain and a history of vomiting at Narayan Memorial Hospital. According to a complaint lodged with the health panel, while the patient needed surgical intervention, he was admitted under a medicine doctor, and a surgeon was not appointed to him upon admission. The patient was ultimately referred to the surgical team after four days, and the surgery was done two days later. The patient died despite the surgical intervention.
"Our experts opined that the death could have been avoided if the surgical intervention was not delayed and found total hospital negligence. We ordered the hospital to pay compensation of 20 lakh," said WBCERC chairman Justice (Retd) Ashim Kumar Banerjee.The health commission also found lapses at the same hospital in the case of a 60-year-old patient who was admitted with abdominal pain. The patient was admitted under a ‘gastroenterology' consultant, which the commission later found had an MBBS degree only. The doctor conducted an ERCP, after which the patient developed complications."When this patient was in a very critical condition, the hospital forced the family to shift the patient to another hospital, where she died two days later. Our experts said that an MRCP procedure instead of ERCP could have prevented the death. The hospital was ordered to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh," said Banerjee.In the third case, the commission directed Manipal Hospitals Mukundapur to refund the total amount charged to the family of a patient who died during treatment in Oct, 2025. A 67-year-old woman was admitted with an enlarged gallbladder, for which she underwent surgery. The patient died two days later owing to complications including septic shock, metabolic acidosis, recurrent hypoglycaemia, and hypotension. The family also complained that they waited 12 hours to get the body, as the hospital refused to release it unless the total bill, amounting to Rs 6 lakh, was paid."According to the OT notes, the patient had biopsy-proven adenocarcinoma. The hospital did not give us the biopsy report, which we managed to get on our own. We did not find the biopsy report suggesting adenocarcinoma. We directed the hospital to refund the entire amount charged to the family, while advising the family to approach the state medical council," said Banerjee.