80-yr-old tied to hospital bed in Madhya Pradesh, after family fails to pay partial dues

In a shocking and inhuman incident, a Madhya Pradesh hospital tied an 80-year-old man to the bed after his family failed to pay his medical dues. Shajapur's City Hospital on Saturday tied up the old man, refusing to discharge him after his family could not arrange the full amount of the cost for his medical treatment.

Laxmi Narayan, (80) had travelled from Rajgarh district, 38 kilometres away from Shajapur area for his treatment, during which his family had paid Rs 6,000, followed by another Rs 5,000. However, at the time of discharge, the hospital asked the kin to pay Rs 11,270 more. Unable to arrange the amount at such short notice amid the COVID-19 lockdown, Narayan's family expressed their inability to pay after which the old man was tied up to the bed to prevent him from leaving the hospital. 

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"We have sent a team of Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) and a doctor, to the hospital to investigate the matter. This should not have happened and we will ensure that appropriate action is taken against the hospital," District Collector Dinesh Jain told news agency ANI. 

The District Collector added that measures will be taken so that no such incident is repeated. After the appalling incident came to light, the hospital administration assured that they would take the necessary steps in dealing with those responsible for the incident. 

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According to the Ministry of health and family welfare, Madhya Pradesh has 9,228 total coronavirus cases out of which 2721 are active cases, 6108 patients have been recovered/discharged and 399 deaths have been recorded. India's total COVID-19 cases stand to 2,46,628 of which 1,20,406 are active; 6,929 people have died thus far while 1,19,293 have recovered.

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(With ANI Inputs)