Allegations have been raised against the city’s posh United Hospital for not handing over the body of patient after the family members failed to pay a fat amount of bill.
The UH authority however handed over the body Sunday evening on condition that the patient’s family members would pay the bill amounting to Tk 15 lakh in five installments in next five months.
Earlier, the UH management refused to release the body of Md. Aslam, 54, a resident of Dilu Road in the city’s Moghbazar area and a stock exchange businessman. He died of lungs infection on Friday afternoon while he was in life support at CCU.
The family members repeatedly tried to take the body home for burial. But the UH management refused to hand over it and kept the body confined in the hospital mortuary for non-payment of money. “The body was handed over to the relatives at about 6:30 pm on Sunday. The family members paid Tk 40, 000 before receiving the body. They will have to pay the rest amount of money in five installments as per UH condition,” Rafiqul Islam, OC of Gulshan, told The New Nation yesterday.
Patients relatives alleged the UH management also tried to involve the police administration to create pressure on them for the full payment. But the Gulshan police reportedly refused to take part in such type of negotiation.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim has expressed severe dissatisfaction over UH authority’s stand and termed the incident as inhuman and immoral.
“It is inhuman to keep the body by the UH authority for non-payment of bill. I earlier asked them to hand over the body when they had contacted me earlier night,” Nasim said at Meet the Reporters programme at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Sunday afternoon.
Giving assurance of taking necessary action, he also said the patient’s body must be handed over immediately to family members under moral obligation. “What’s their [UH] problem if the body is handed over? What’s the problem if the bill is not paid? One should not treat the hospital service as garment business. It’s a service-oriented sector,” the Minister said.
Patient’s daughter Sadia Aslam, an MBA student, yesterday said the UH authority had given a bill of over Tk 31 lakh as the cost of her father’s treatment. “We had paid Tk 12 lakh in different phases by July 26. But the hospital authorities created pressure on us to give the full payment when my father died,” she said. Expressing surprise for the excessive-billing, she said, “The UH management said my father’s body cannot be taken for burial unless the outstanding bill amounting to Tk 19 lakh is paid. We have bought all medicines paying in cash. Besides, we had paid Tk 3 lakh as bill of blood.”
Aslam was admitted to LabAid Hospital in June for kidney and heart disease where he was given ventilation. Later, he was shifted to CCU of UH in Baridhara under the care of Dr. Kaiser Nasirullah on July 3. He was kept in ventilation in UH with life support.
When he was not improving, the family members tried to take him home fearing high expense for lengthily staying. But the physician objected it giving them hope of immediate recovery and advised them to wait for few more days.
