Hospital Refused To Accept Cheques Or Old Notes, So Family Paid 40K In Coins!

The demonetisation of 500/1000 currency notes by PM Modi took the entire nation by surprise. ATMs across the country had almost unending queues. People are scrambling for getting their hands on lower denomination notes. It becomes quite challenging for some people to even conduct their day to day transactions.

However, the life of a patient should not be held hostage for lack of funds in the preferred lower denominations.

BP Poddar Hospital and Research Centre in Alipore, Kolkata asked the family of Sukanta Chhaule, a dengue patient, to pay a sum Rs. 40,000 for his discharge. However, the hospital refused to accept old 500/1000 currency notes.

The even rejected the family’s offer to pay by cheque.

 

Sukanta’s family, in desperate need for funds, frantically sent of Whatsapp messages to all their friends, seeking contribution from them in the form of loose change.

“While many gave us all the coins they had at home, others handed us their children’s piggy banks.We kept receiving the coins till midnight.”

They received an overwhelming response to their request and had collected the bill amount by 3 am.

 

The next day, Sukanta’s family settled his entire hospital bill of Rs. 40,000 in loose change!

“At 11am sharp, we reached the hospital gate. But the authorities said they wouldn’t accept coins and demanded a bank draft instead. We stood firm and told them this was the only way we would pay since it was legitimate currency. An official was still adamant but relented when we threatened to take police help.”

It’s terrible to hear that the hospital did not have any kind of support to facilitate patient payments in such a time of need. Even when tendered legitimate currency, the hospital sought to reject it simply focused on their own convenience.

The demonetisation of high denomination currency had a very positive objective of eliminating black money from the economy, which it accomplished to a large extent. However, we must ensure that any undesirable side effects of this plan be abated through mutual cooperation and understanding, especially when it comes to a patient’s health.

News Source: The Times of India