Pune: Many times, relatives of a patient or social workers hold a hospital or its doctors to ransom if the patient dies during treatment or over some minor issues. At times, such tricks are played to force the hospital administration to reduce the bill or to waive it completely. Henceforth, action will be taken against those who put pressure on doctors or hospitals, warned Commissioner of Police (CP) Amitesh Kumar.
A patient died during treatment in a hospital in the city last week. The patient’s relatives and social workers gathered at the clinic and started questioning how the patient died. They said that they would not accept the body until the entire bill was not waived. This made the atmosphere at the hospital tense for some time. The doctors’ association has been demanding that the police should stand behind doctors and hospitals as such incidents have been rising in the city.
In this backdrop, CP Kumar has directed the senior inspectors attached with all police stations across the city, including the deputy commissioners of police (DCPs), to file non-bailable cases under legal provisions against those who hold hospitals and doctors to ransom. “Such people should not take the law into their own hands,” he said.
If one has any complaint against doctors, one can approach organisations such as the Indian Medical Association (IMA). Action is taken against the hospital administration or doctors, if they are found responsible for a patient’s death or over any other serious issue. But it is wrong to put pressure on doctors, said CP Kumar.
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“Many times, a patient’s relatives or some other people hold doctors or a hospital to ransom. Such things happen when a patient dies during treatment. However, relatives of a patient should take a proper course of action. Henceforth, if such incidents occur in the city, I have issued directions to file non-bailable cases against such people.”
- Amitesh Kumar, CP, Pune
