A state-government appointed committee sent a letter to Pune’s Aditya Birla Hospital on August 20 and asked it to refund Rs 5 lakh to 25 patients who underwent COVID-19 treatment at the hospital. The committee found that the patients were ?overcharged for their treatment. 

Deputy medical superintendent of Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial (YCM) Hospital, Dr Shankar Jadhav, who is the head of the audit team of government-appointed committee told The Indian Express, On Thursday, we sent a letter to the hospital as we found that it had overcharged patients. The hospital told us they will get back to us by August 22. 

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Dr Jadhav informed that at least in 25 cases they found that the hospital had overcharged patients for medicine, admission to general wards, PPE kits and other related aspects.

Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) Additional Health Commissioner, Dr Pavan Salve, said that their team of doctors will be part of the state government-appointed committee, which will look into the alleged inflated bill given to COVID-19 patients. After the private hospitals hand over draft bill to the patients, our audit team will verify whether the charges are as per the government norms. This will help in reducing the complaints of overcharging, Dr Salve said.