A diagnostic clinic in New Town has been directed by the state health regulatory commission to apologise and refund a patient after she was made to wait long beyond the time allotted for her ultrasonography (USG) appointment, rendering the procedure impossible.

The middle-aged patient, a resident of Ghatakpur, travelled around 25km to Apollo Clinic Galleria, New Town, for a whole-abdomen USG. She had been asked to report at 11am, and she was the 12th patient in the queue. However, due to delays, the procedure could not be completed, the commission said on Monday.

The incident highlights a long-standing issue across the city’s private healthcare sector, where patients often wait hours beyond their scheduled appointment times.

“The doctor arrived slightly after 11am, but even on time, he would have taken at least two hours to see 12 patients (at least 10 minutes per patient). It was wrong of the clinic to
ask the patient to come at 11am. The USG could not be done because her bladder was empty,” said Ashim Banerjee, retired judge and chairperson of the West Bengal Clinical
Establishment Regulatory Commission.

“There was an unusual delay, and when the patient finally went for the USG, she could not hold her bladder. The test could not be completed,” Banerjee later told Metro.

The patient received no assistance from the clinic staff when she requested help, leaving her son to face rude behaviour from the staff, the commission said.

“We have asked the clinic to refund ₹2,100 for the USG and issue an apology to the patient,” Banerjee said.

“The commission is confronted with such cases of delays very often,” he added.

The clinic said the patient had booked a same-day USG appointment for 11.15am and checked in at 11.22am, with billing completed by 11.25am. “She was taken in for the scan at 12.24pm, by which time her bladder was empty, making the USG impossible,” said an official of Apollo Clinic Galleria, New Town.

“Her earlier bill included blood tests and the USG. Since the blood test reports had already been released, those charges could not be refunded. She was asked to return for the USG with priority assurance, though scan timings depend on departmental flow,” the official said.

“The patient had loose motions on the day of the procedure and could not hold urine. Despite a heavy load of 19 appointments that day, with 15 patients ahead, the team accommodated her after 3-4 patients at the request of the Apollo Hyderabad call centre. But the scan could not be done. A refund of ₹2,100 is needed for the USG,” the
official added.

A widespread problem

Long wait for doctors and diagnostic tests are common across Calcutta. Patients frequently report delays of several hours despite arriving on time.

For instance, the assistant of a spine surgeon at a private hospital in Alipore asked the daughter and son-in-law of a 75-year-old woman to meet the doctor at 11am on a Sunday. They arrived from Garia on time, but the doctor only arrived around 3pm, explaining that he had been “stuck somewhere”.

Another resident from Gariahat recounted a noon appointment at a Mukundapur hospital. The doctor arrived at 1.30pm. “Once she was there, the doctor gave a lot of attention. But if the hospital had informed us about the delay, we could have left home later,” she said. The patient is familiar with Bengaluru clinics. “We did not face this problem there,” she remarked.

Hospital administrators and doctors cite multiple reasons for the long waits.

Coordination issues: The CEO of a private hospital chain said, “The coordination between hospital administration and doctors needs to be at its peak to avoid such delays. Most hospitals now have good doctors and equipment, and the differentiator between two hospitals is the quality of service. Delays directly affect that service.”

Medical procedures: A cardiologist explained, “There is a calculated time for procedures like angioplasty, but complications during the procedure often extend the time, creating a backlog of appointments.”

Scheduling conflicts: Some surgeons prefer not to conduct OPD consultations on surgery days to focus on operations. “But the patient queue will become long if OPDs are limited to fewer days,” one surgeon said.

Technological efforts: Administrators are using technology to reduce waiting times.

“Appointment slots are booked and the doctors receive a message about it on their mobiles. But they should honour the scheduled time,” said one administrator.

A balance needs to be struck, said commission chairperson Banerjee.

“Patients should not get impatient. At the same time, hospitals, especially private establishments that give appointments against payment, must ensure patients do not have to wait unnecessarily. In the case of the Ghatakpur patient, she was the 12th person in the queue — so why was she asked to report at 11am?” he said.