Staff Reporter :
The Authority of Anwar Khan Modern Medical College & Hospital in the city has said sorry to a patient, even returned the money which was taken from the corona patient.
On Wednesday morning, the Authority of the hospital called the patient Saifur Rahman over phone to visit the hospital. When the patient’s younger brother Ariful Islam Sumon came, the hospital returned him Tk 1 lakh 15 thousand 995.
Anwar Khan Modern Authority, however, has deducted the bills of June 1 and 2 from the patient as hospital was removed from the list of ‘Covid-19 Dedicated Hospital’ fixed by the government till May 31.
Earlier on Tuesday evening, Saifur got admitted to the hospital in Dhanmondi on May 23 when he felt discomfort due to rapid heart rates after testing positive for COVID-19 two days earlier.
He was later slapped with a bill of Tk 170, 875 at the time of his discharge on June 2.
Though in the wake of the soaring coronavirus infections and deaths, the government announced that COVID-19 treatment would be provided free of cost at 13 private hospitals, one of which was Anwar Khan Modern Hospital.
Finally patient was eventually released in the early hours of Wednesday, but only after convincing the authorities that the Tk 150,000 was all they could manage to pay, said Saifur’s younger brother Arifur Rahman.
“We didn’t have that much money with us and had to go through a lot of troubles to collect it,” victim’s brother also added.
“The bank was closed and there was no scope to borrow from relatives. Finally, we pleaded with some people to lend us some money and they agreed. The hospital said they would only give us a discount of Tk 5,000, but we told them that Tk 150,000 was all we had.”
Later, the officials spoke to their higher-ups and accepted that amount, according to Arifur.
But they later came to know from media reports that the hospital would refund the payment and will soon go back to collect it, he said.
Health Directorate’s Additional Secretary Habibur Rahman Khan on Tuesday told media that patients would not have to pay for coronavirus treatment because the government would cover the costs for COVID-19 cases at designated hospitals.
The authorities of Anwar Khan Modern Hospital, however, said they were no longer one of those ‘dedicated’ hospitals for COVID-19 patients.
“We spoke to government officials and decided not to charge any coronavirus patient until May 31. We’ll make refunds to anyone who has been charged for the treatment,” Prof Ehteshamul Haque, Director of Anwar Khan Modern Hospital told media on Tuesday.
It is mentionable that victim Saifur Rahman, a COVID-19 patient who complained of being held captive all day at Anwar Khan Modern Hospital over medical bills, was allowed to leave after paying Tk 150,000 even though coronavirus healthcare was supposed to be free of cost there.
