Even if payment is due after the death of a patient, the body cannot be detained by the hospital and has to be handed over to the deceased’s family within 5 hours. The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has issued strict instructions to private hospitals regarding this. The commission also warned that if a private hospital or nursing home refuses to oblige and detains dead body, its license will be cancelled.

A guideline to this effect was issued on Monday, which says, “Private hospitals and nursing homes will not be able to detain the body in any way if the patient’s family owes money or for any other reason. If the patient’s family has any arrears, it must be reported to the commission. The commission will take the responsibility of recovering the outstanding money from the deceased’s family. But the family cannot be harassed by detaining the body of their deceased relative.”

Body can be kept beyond 5 hours only if requested by deceased’s family: WBCERC

The guideline further says, “The body must be handed over to the family within five hours of the patient’s death. If it is kept for more than this, then a proper reason must be recorded. Many times, a member of the deceased’s family lives in another state or outside the country. In such cases, they request that the body be kept in the morgue for a while. Only in that situation can a body be kept in a hospital for more than five hours.”

Deceased’s body is often detained by private hospitals due to delayed payment

Cases of detaining dead bodies for money are not uncommon. Numerous complaints in this regard have been submitted to the commission. Sometimes the nursing home authorities blame the patient’s family. Sometimes it is said, “The insurance company is delaying in paying the money.” Meanwhile, the families of the deceased face harassment due to complications.

Recently, one such complaint was submitted to the commission. A young man named Mudassir Parvez filed a complaint against a private hospital in New Alipore. He alleged that a member of his family died in the hospital at 12:40 am on August 12. But even after a long time, the body was not handed over to the family. The body was kept for 15 hours on the pretext that the insurance company was delaying in paying the money. The commission was moved after this complaint and after investigating the entire matter, they issued a directive on Monday.

In this regard, Chairman of the State Health Regulatory Commission and former Justice Asim Kumar Banerjee said, “Such incidents are undesirable. They will not be tolerated in any way. Recently, we received a complaint against that private hospital in New Alipore. After that, this directive was issued.”

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