Family Alleges Gurugram Hospital Inflated Bill After Accident Victim's Death

A Gurugram hospital is facing serious allegations of extortion and concealing a patient's death after a road accident, sparking protests and a police investigation into the inflated medical bill.

A private hospital in Sector 49 here witnessed chaotic scenes after a youth injured in a road accident died, with his family alleging that the hospital kept them in the dark about his death to inflate the medical bill, police said on Thursday.

Enraged, the family blocked the road on Wednesday night, accusing doctors of extortion.

They alleged that the hospital charged over Rs 5 lakh by claiming the youth was alive, even though he had died 24 hours earlier, the police said.

On receiving information about the protest, a police team reached the hospital.

"The family members were counselled and sent home. The hospital management also spoke to the family, after which the body was sent for a postmortem," a police officer said.

According to the police, the deceased was identified as Azrul Islam (20), an auto-rickshaw driver and a resident of Sector 66.

He was rushed to the private hospital after being injured in an accident on Monday and was treated in the emergency ward, they added. He had been admitted to the hospital for three days.

The deceased's father, Mofizur Rahman, said, "When we requested to transfer him to another hospital, the management informed us that he had died. The hospital did not provide any explanation for the cause of death. We were charged under various heads during the treatment. This continued till Wednesday evening."

Despite repeated attempts, the hospital administration could not be contacted.

Police handed over the body to the family after the postmortem on Thursday.

"We have not received any complaint yet. The protesters were sent back home at night," said Suresh Kumar, additional SHO of Sadar police station.