The Delhi High Court has asked the Central Government and the Delhi government to develop a mechanism on behalf of the insurance companies to make arrangements for settlement of medical bills, so that after treatment, patients from hospitals do not face problems due to hospital bills. A bench of Delhi High Court Judge Nina Bansal Krishna said that both the Center and Delhi governments should work with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and the Medical Councils of Delhi and India to prepare the system.
The court also expressed concern over the ever-increasing incidence of problems caused to patients and their families during the bill-nipatan process and blamed both hospitals and insurance firms for delay and long processes, which increase the mental problems of patients.
In fact, in May 2018, a petitioner Shashank Garg challenged the decision to dismiss three employees of a private hospital in a case of fraud. In the petition, Garg said that after surgery in the hospital in 2013, a total of Rs 1.73 lakh was recovered from him. However, they were covered under the Cashless Insurance Scheme, but the hospital deposited them as security and promised that they would be returned after paying their share from the insurer. The court said this while commenting in the case of Shashank, who reached the High Court regarding this matter.
