Govt making law to stop private hospitals harassing patients for bills

The health minister has said the government is enacting a new law to stop private hospitals harassing patients over unpaid bills in inhumane ways.

Parliament Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 16 Jan 2018, 07:21 PM
Updated : 17 Jan 2018, 06:24 PM

Mohammed Nasim was replying to a notice submitted by Noor-E-Hasna Lily Chowdhury MP on matters of urgent public interests in the parliament on Tuesday.

“We have received complaints about such incidents happeningin many private hospitals. These hospitals are holding ailing patients hostage to force them to pay,” Nasim said.

“We have evidence that these hospitals charged fees, claiming that the patient was put on life support even after his or her death,” he added.

He said, “Many private hospitals are doing business like five-star hotels."

“They should realise that people go to a hospital to save their lives. But, these hospitals are holding the patient's hostage and forcing them to pay hundreds of thousands of taka.

“This is a crime,” Nasim said.

Pointing his finger at Rustum Ali Faraji, an independent MP and physician, Nasim said, “He speaks about medical issues many times, but not about negligence in treatment, because class interest works here.”

Lily Chowdhury, a Jatiya Party MP from the seats reserved for women, said in the notice that many private hospitals, including some in the capital, were harassing patients in different ways, especially in the name of treating them at intensive care unit or ICU and providing life support.

She alleged Birdem Hospital in Dhaka behaved badly even with MPs despite being one of the largest hospitals in the city. “Just imagine how they treat the normal people when they go there as patients,” she said.

Nasim also said the government has launched health insurance services as part of an experimental project at Modhupur and Ghatail in Tangail. 

“The ultra-poor people can use health cards to avail 40 types of services,” he said and urged Finance Minister AMA Muhith to allocate money to expand the project across Bangladesh.