Hyderabad: A middle-aged woman doctor had tested COVID-19 positive here and got admitted to a private hospital. The doctor has alleged that she was detained by a private hospital management here over non-payment of the medical bill. She has made the allegations in a selfie-video which has gone viral in the social media.
The civil assistant surgeon of a state-run Fever Hospital is purportedly seen accusing the private hospital of overcharging. She said the hospital made a bill of Rs 1.15 lakh for a day’s treatment. Besides, she claimed that she was not given proper medication and not discharging her.
In the video, the doctor said after testing positive for coronavirus she has been treating herself. She was also under home quarantine. On the midnight of July 1, she said she experienced shortness of breath. So she got herself admitted to the private hospital.
“I am a COVID-19 warrior. For one day, they (hospital management) charged me Rs 1.15 lakh. I could not pay so much. I am a diabetic and I’m not getting proper medication here. They are making baseless allegations. I am in trouble. I paid Rs 40,000, but they detained me,” the woman claimed in the video. She further said she had also filed a police complaint against the private hospital.
#Hyderabad: A #Doctor & #CoronaWarrior alleged to be detained at private Hospital for non payment of bill for over a day.#Telangana #TelanganaFightsCorona #COVID19 @Eatala_Rajender @KTRTRS pic.twitter.com/pltl3l4hrI
— Pramod Chaturvedi (ANI) 🇮🇳 (@PramodChturvedi) July 5, 2020
However, it was not clear whether the woman shot the selfie-video at the private hospital. The hospital management has denied her allegations.
‘Fever Hospital’ superintendent Dr K Shankar said the woman doctor had tested positive for the virus four days ago. Since then she had been under home quarantine.
“She was told that the government has made all arrangements for proper treatment of frontline COVID-19 warriors. However, without informing higher officials she herself got admitted to the private hospital,” Shankar said.
Only after local TV channels aired the self-video of the woman Sunday that Shanker said he came to know about the matter. Immediately, he asked the Resident Medical Officer (RMO) to visit the private hospital. He asked the RMO sort out the payment issue and get her discharged.
“Upon reaching the hospital, the RMO discovered that she had already got herself discharged. She under home isolation now and her condition is stable,” Shankar said.
“She had been on outpatient general duty at ‘Fever Hospital’. She did not get infected by COVID-19 at the hospital,” the superintendent added.
Agencies