Biratnagar, November 2
Birat Medical College Teaching Hospital in Biratnagar has refused to give the body of a man who died of Covid-19 on Saturday to the family after the family failed to pay bills.
The 65-year-old man, who used to work as a driver for a private school, was admitted to the hospital on October 22. He had breathed his last on Saturday morning.
“All the money we had is spent now. We do not have any money left,” the deceased’s daughter says, “We also could not find anyone to lend us any amount, but the hospital refuses to give the body unless we pay.”
The family had deposited Rs 100,000 into the hospital while admitting him. The hospital has claimed that the family is yet to pay Rs 384,935.
“The government has already given up its responsibility (of treating the patients for free), but we have to give wages to the health workers,” the hospital’s administrative chief Sudheer Singh Rathaur says, “Nonetheless, we have given them as much discount as possible.”
