Bengaluru: Playing good Samaritan, State Health and Family Welfare Minister, K R Ramesh Kumar has written to city police commissioner, Praveen Sood, to help a Tumakuru woman whose six- year- old daughter is allegedly not being allowed to shift for further treatment to Nimhans from a private hospital she owes around Rs 2 lakh to in unpaid bills.
The woman, Lakshmi, approached the Minister at his office on July 26. Going by his letter, Lakshmi's daughter, Supriyan was admitted to Rainbow Children's Hospital on July 12 complaining of high fever, but there was no improvement in her condition. Although referred to Nimhans, the child is not being discharged until her mother settles the bills amounting to Rs 2 lakh to Rainbow, according to him.
The Minister had at first sent his personal secretary to ask the hospital to discharge the child and send the pending bill to the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) for reimbursement. But a day later he was informed by the woman that her daughter's condition was serious and the hospital could not discharge her. Mr Kumar then asked the police to help the woman out in the case.
When contacted, a spokesman of Rainbow Children's Hospital, however, claimed the child was admitted to it on July 12 with fever, seizures, vomiting and abdominal pain and had since been discharged to help her seek treatment at Nimhans.
"Her sensorium at the time off of admission according to GCS was 9/15. The child was admitted to PICU with a provisional diagnosis of acute encephalitis. The parents were counselled in detail regarding her condition and the need for close follow-up. She was discharged on July 27 in a stable condition and the parents have been asked to take her to Nimhans immediately," he said.
According to the hospital the bill amounted to Rs 2,50,815 . The parents had paid Rs 90,000 in advance and the rest of the money was not collected, it claimed.
