Covid: Activists to collect overcharged hospital bills to claim refund in SC

Dehradun: After filing a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) against exorbitant bill amounts charged by private hospitals during the second wave of Covid-19 earlier this year, petitioners and social activists will now run a campaign to collect copies of the bills from those affected.

TOI had reported earlier this month that the apex court has sought a reply from the central government regarding Covid hospital bills. The Bench, comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna, has given 4 weeks to the Centre to reply.

The group of social activists, hailing from Uttarakhand, plan to reclaim the lost money of Covid-affected families they say they've seen being overcharged.

On Tuesday, they released a Whatsapp number (9870807913) and an email ID on which those who felt cheated during the course of their Covid treatment can share details.

“We will share the details with the SC so that all families who lost the financial battle will get their money back. Uttarakhand’s death rate stood at 2.15% during the second wave and the state was ranked second in deaths across India. Thus, the chances of fraudulent bills and overpricing stood higher here,” said Abhinav Thapar, a Doon-based social activist and petitioner in the case.

He added: “People can share the details of themselves or their known ones and send us the soft copies of their hospital bills, discharge summary, Covid report etc. We will spread the message with the help of other social activists across the state.”

An amount of Rs 6 crore and Rs 3 crore have already been given back to victim families in other places such as Pune and Telangana, respectively.

The petitioners, including Thapar, argued that during the pandemic, many people were admitted to private hospitals because of a lack of proper public health care systems. They said that in the absence of a clear policy or proper guidelines regarding refund of hospital bills, many patients have been plunged into poverty.