A leading private hospital has been found guilty of “very unethical” billing practices and ordered to refund all charges collected over the past year for washing bed linen and disposing of biomedical waste.

The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission said that Fortis Hospital, Anandapur, had no basis for levying such fees.

Commission chairperson and retired judge Ashim Banerjee said a hospital’s licence requires it to manage biomedical waste and launder linen as part of its operations.

These costs must be built into the bed charges and cannot be added as separate items, he said.

The order followed a complaint by the son of an 87-year-old woman who was admitted to Fortis in December 2024 and later transferred to the Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata (INK), where she died.

After examining the Fortis bill, the commission found the hospital had
listed independent charges for laundry and biomedical waste.

“This is very unethical,” Banerjee said at a news conference on Wednesday.

“If you have a licence to run a hospital, you should clean biomedical waste and wash linen. A hospital cannot charge a patient separately for these.”

Banerjee later told Metro that past advisories and the West Bengal Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) Act, 2017, make it clear these costs must be included in bed charges.

“If you are checking into a hotel, will they charge you separately for cleaning waste or washing the bed linen?
They will not. A hospital should also finalise the bed charges after factoring in these costs,” he said.

The commission found additional irregularities, including allegedly inflated rates for some investigations and the absence of discounts on consumables.

“We have asked Fortis to refund ₹17,485. We have also asked them to remove such items (linen laundry and biomedical waste) from their software and inform us about the software update within 24 hours. They must also return the money they charged from all patients over the past year,” Banerjee said.

The patient’s family had also alleged delayed admission, a claim the hospital denied before the commission, saying she received treatment in the emergency department before being admitted. “We are not at all impressed,” Banerjee said.

The commission also instructed INK to refund ₹32,649 to the family, saying the hospital had failed to provide mandatory discounts on medicines and consumables.

Senior officials from two other private hospitals in the city said the practice of itemising linen and basic equipment costs was phased out years ago. Earlier bills often charged separately for oxygen, linen, monitors, nursing teams and medical teams, an official explained.

“Now these are included in bed charges. Hospitals can, however, charge separately
for specialised services, such as ventilation or intubation.”

Another official from a hospital described separate linen charges as a “hidden charge.” Declaring a bed price of ₹3,000 misleads patients if additional unavoidable fees later push up the real cost, the official said.

“The patient thinks the charge is lower than at other hospitals. Then hidden charges are added, and the actual cost becomes the same — or even more.”

“We have noted the observations made by the commission. As of now, no formal directive has been received. Once the order is issued, we will review it and take appropriate steps in line with applicable legal and regulatory guidelines,” Fortis said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

The commission also instructed INK to refund ₹32,649 to the family, saying the hospital had failed to provide mandatory discounts on medicines and consumables. Calls to an official of the hospital went unanswered on Wednesday.

Senior officials from two other private hospitals in the city said the practice of itemising linen and basic equipment costs was phased out years ago. Earlier bills often charged separately for oxygen, linen, monitors, nursing teams and medical teams, an official explained. “Now these are included in bed charges. Hospitals can, however, charge separately for specialised services, such as ventilation or intubation.”

Another official from a hospital described separate linen charges as a “hidden charge.” Declaring a bed price of ₹3,000 misleads patients if additional unavoidable fees later push up the real cost, the official said.

“The patient thinks the charge is lower than at other hospitals. Then hidden charges are added, and the actual cost becomes the same — or even more.”