Woman Loses 3 Family Members To Covid-19, Hospital To Pay Back Inflated Bills

Madhumita Bagchi was living happily with her family till a few months ago. A resident of Rajarhat in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, Madhumita was surrounded by her husband, a four-year-old child and in-laws. However, the second wave of Covid-19 wiped out her entire family and brought colossal devastation into her world. Moreover, at the end of it, Madhumita was financially broken and is currently supported by her relatives.

The chain of events started in May this year when her 65-year-old father-in-law was first infected with coronavirus. Sushant Bagchi was admitted to a nursing home. Despite shelling out more than Rs 3 lakh on his treatment, Madhumita couldn’t save her father-in-law.

In the meantime, her mother-in-law Leena Bagchi also contracted Covid-19 and was rushed to a hospital. Even as Madhumita was coming to terms with this, her husband Shubhamoy Bagchi tested Covid-19 positive. Madhumita first lost her mother-in-law and then she was completely devastated when her husband also succumbed to the disease. Madhumita is now left alone with her four-year-old.

The second wave also ruined her financially as Madhumita paid around Rs 10 lakh for the treatment of her family members. In 45 days, Madhumita lost her entire family to the pandemic while spending her life-savings on their treatment. If not for her relatives who are financially supporting her, Madhumita would not have been able to sustain.

Madhumita suspected that the hospitals charged her inflated medical bills and has complained to the state health commission against the nursing homes. On Monday, the health commission, after scrutinising the bills, directed Lotus Nursing Home to return Rs 4.33 lakh to Madhumita.

“It is a heartbreaking incident. The daughter-in-law is helpless after losing the whole family. We have scrutinised all the bills of Lotus Hospital. I have ordered to return Rs 4.33 lakh to the family of the deceased,” said retired Justice Asim Kumar Bandyopadhyay, chairman of the state health commission.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here.