Apollo waives Rs 25,000 bill of Delhi CM’s wife

Approached by The Indian Express today for comment on this unusual waiver of the hospital bill, Sahib Singh sounded indignant: “Why should I pay ? A chief minister and his family are supposed to get free medical treatment, irrespective ofwhether the bill is Re 1 or Rs 1 lakh. And, in any case, the hospital did not send me a bill. If Apollo so desires, the bill could be sent to the government and it will be paid.”

Significantly, Sahib Singh’s government has time and again agreed that Apollo was not keeping its side of the agreement to allocate 200 free beds for financially disadvantaged patients. The Delhi High Court had, in an interim order on May 29, directed the hospital to open the 200 free-beds unit “forthwith” and ensure that the free OPD becomes fully functional from June 10. And today – close to two years after the hospital became operational and seven weeks after the High Court’s order of May 29 — comes the admission before the court that just 75 beds have been allocated for the purpose.

“I have been bringing my father to Apollo hospital everyday for the past one week,” says Maharaj Prasad, who is an private canteen employee. His right foot has developed gangrene and needs amputation. But there are too many formalities(before free treatment can be availed.”

As the patient was being privately treated for the foot, Prasad was told to get a reference from a government hospital. Then the rounds of government hospitals started Guru Tegh Bahadur, Jai Prakash Narain, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Bara Hindu Rao. “Nobody was wiling to give a referral letter.

With great difficulty I managed a letter from the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, but Apollo refused to accept it saying that it was a Central Government hospital and not of Delhi government. Now probably I will have to get my father’s foot amputated by a local doctor,” Prasad said helplessly.

Vasudha Ramdevi reached Apollo to get her 10-month-old son treated for a congenital heart disease. After she managed to get a referral letter from a doctor at Bara Hindu Rao, she was told that a reference from BHR’s Medical Superintendent (MS) was mandatory. “I tried to meet the MS but was not allowed to. Now from where will I get the letter?” Ramadevi wondered.

Apollo chairmanPrathap C Reddy was away to Chennai. A senior executive of Apollo’s marketing & public relations department who did not want to be named said the subject was sub-judice but added “after all, somebody has to be accountable. The number of free-treatment seekers far exceeds the 200-bed limit. We cannot take anybody directly. The patient has either to be referred by three different doctors of Delhi government hospitals or an MS of one of the Delhi government hospitals.”