Hospital releases body thru deal of bill payment
Hospital releases body thru deal of bill payment
After 51 hours of Mohammad Aslam's death, the management of United Hospital discharged his body to his family members around 6:00 pm yesterday as a deal was reached between the family and the hospital authority.
As per the deal the deceased's family will have to pay Tk 15 lakh in five months and the family's failure to do so will entitle the hospital authority to take the matter to the court, said members of Aslam's family.
Sabina Sultana, Aslam's widow, received the body along with other members of the family. They paid Tk 40,000 yesterday and offered to pay another one lakh by next Sunday.
"The rest of the money we will pay by the stipulated time," she said.
On Saturday the hospital authority had refused to release the body of Aslam, who had died Friday afternoon, on the ground of his family's failure to pay the outstanding dues.
After his nearly one and a half month-long treatment for lung infection at the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) of the hospital, the total bill amounted to Tk 31 lakh.
The family had earlier paid Tk 12 lakh and also had to spend about Tk 2.5 lakh for purchasing blood during different phases of his treatment.
Siraj Uddin, a senior executive with accounts section of the hospital, said that the family's outstanding dues were Tk 19 lakh.
"We offered them a discount of Tk 4 lakh on humanitarian grounds," he said.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim yesterday termed the hospital management's earlier decision of not releasing the body “disappointing”.
Answering to questions at a programme at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity, Nasim said private hospitals should also consider humanitarian grounds alongside doing business as the health sector is service-oriented.
"I came to know about this incident through newspapers. I'll form a probe committee tomorrow to look into the matter," M M Niaz Uddin, secretary to the health ministry, told BBC Bangla last night.