AP woman sues hosp for fleecing

A woman lodged a complaint with the Vijayawada police and district collector alleging that she was charged a huge amount to treat her Covid-19 infected husband. She alleged that a private hospital in Vijayawada collected `15 lakh to treat her husband who died due to alleged negligence.

Sarala Ramineedi from Rajahmundry lodged a complaint against Liberty Hospital, Vijayawada, in Patamata police station seeking stern action against the hospital management for medical negligence that led to the death of her husband R. Srinivas Rao on August 23 and charging exorbitant fees.

Ramineedi said, “On August 10, my husband began to suffer from fever and was rushed to the hospital in Rajahmundry where his oxygen levels started dropping. He was brought to Vijayawada for treatment and with the help of oxygen support and was admitted in Liberty Hospital.”

Dr Y. Ravi Prasad examined Srinivas and said that they would treat him offered a `6 lakh package. The doctor said that Srinivas will be kept on CPAP (a high flow oxygen machine). For the first two days, the doctor said that Srinivas was doing well and on the third day, he said that the antiviral drug, remdesivir, was needed. He increased the package to `15 lakh as intravenous immunoglobulin was necessary.

Her husband was complaining that the treatment was not good, said Ramineedi. When she asked, the doctor chastised her.

She said that on August 22, the oxygen flow equipment turned out to be faulty and the staff could not provide alternative equipment. She lamented that even the doctor arrived three hours after the staff informed him about the faulty oxygen flow machine.

The doctor declared Rao dead even before testing his pulse. She said that the hospital does not have necessary medical equipment like CT Scan, X-ray and other clinical tests and no trained staff, she said in her complaint.