13 April 2010
By Shivangani Dhawan and Hemington James
VS Hospital allegedly asked Kashi Rawal’s family to pay twice for a laparoscopic surgery because the operation could not be performed on Saturday when a fire broke out
Rawal’s family claims it has paid Rs 8,000 for a surgery costing Rs 4,000 Rawal, who had kidney stones, was admitted to the hospital last week. On Saturday when doctors were operating upon her, the fire erupted, forcing them to halt the procedure mid–way. Though the operation could not take place, her family members claim they had to pay Rs 4,000.
On Monday, doctors again performed a laparoscopic surgery on her to remove the stones. This time, too, Rawal’s family was asked to fork out Rs 4,000.
“We paid Rs 4,000 – Rs 2,700 as medical expense and Rs 1,300 as hospital fee – the first time doctors attempted the surgery.
We were asked to pay the same amount again today (Monday),” the 55–year–old’s son, Shailesh, said. “The fire was a result of the negligence shown by hospital authorities. Why should we bear the brunt of the incident?”
Rawal’s second son, Hitesh, claimed that when he enquired with doctors about the money paid on Saturday, they failed to give any answer. “We don’t hail from a rich family. Why has the hospital charged us twice for the same operation?” he enquired.
Mirror tried to contact the medical superintendent of VS Hospital, D B Makwana, but he could not be reached. Family members of Rawal, a resident of Vejalpur, had a harrowing time not just on Saturday, when the fire broke out, but also on Monday.
On Saturday, doctors stopped the surgery after creating small cavities in her abdomen after detecting smoke. On Monday, doctors were in the middle of operation when there was a power failure, forcing them to stop using medical equipment and perform the surgery on her manually.
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