Family alleged Minerva Hospital in Rewa kept treating patient after death, billed Rs 20 lakh in 27 days
The family of a 62-year-old former NTPC engineer alleged Minerva Hospital kept him on a ventilator after he had died and billed Rs 20 lakh. The hospital’s response was not given; a post-mortem was awaited.
The government claimed to be making Rewa a medical hub, but the functioning of the city’s private hospitals was repeatedly being questioned. The latest case involving Minerva Hospital not only exposed serious shortcomings in health services but also raised questions about the credibility of the whole system.
Sampat Lal Verma (62), a resident of Satna and a former NTPC engineer, was brought by his family to Minerva Hospital in Rewa after he suffered a paralysis attack on 7 August. The family alleged that his condition was not that critical at admission, but doctors frightened them into agreeing to an immediate operation. His daughter Reeta Verma said her father never regained consciousness after the operation and was put straight on a ventilator.
The patient was kept on a ventilator for about 27 days, with no improvement in his health. The family claimed the hospital management deliberately kept him on machines even though he had died several days earlier. Only after the family questioned the treatment and created an uproar was he declared dead on 3 September and the body handed over.
Reeta Verma alleged that the hospital raised a bill of Rs 20 lakh in the name of treatment. She said her father’s kidneys failed because of wrong and heavy doses. His abdomen was swollen, urination had stopped and his arms and legs had withered. Even so, doctors insisted on dialysis, she alleged, although the hospital had neither dialysis facilities nor a specialist doctor.
On learning of the uproar, Civil Lines police reached the spot and brought the situation under control. The body was sent to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital for post-mortem. The family’s allegations could be confirmed or refuted only after the post-mortem report arrived.
Questions raised about Minerva Hospital before
Minerva Hospital in Rewa city had been in controversy before. From time to time, patients and their families had levelled serious allegations against it, including unnecessary operations, excessive billing in the name of treatment, and frightening patients into long stays. The hospital management had always denied these allegations. The latest case again put the hospital’s functioning in the dock and raised questions about the Health Department’s oversight.
