Patna: A consumer court in Bihar has imposed a fine of Rs500,000 (Dh26,408) on a leading city hospital after a man was wrongly diagnosed HIV positive and was also administered medicines for treatment. The court has also asked the accused party to reimburse the victim the money incurred in fighting the legal battles which lasted for six years.
As per the record, a local resident Lal Babu Bhagat reached the Bimal Hospital and Research Centre in Patna in March 2012 after he fell sick, and the doctor advised the patient for HIV test at a certain lab.
The lab in its report diagnosed the youth as suffering from HIV. After seeing the report, Dr Bimal Kumar who runs this centre himself conducted the test and his test too confirmed the report issued by the lab. Based on this report, the doctor began treating the man for the illness and even prescribed medicines to him.
However, to check authenticity of this report, he rushed to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), a month later and to his surprise, he was declared a completely healthy person suffering from no complications and having no ailments. The PMCH test declared him as “HIV Negative”.
Subsequently, he moved the consumer forum and sought for compensation from the hospital for wrongly declaring him “HIV positive” and causing him mental and physical torture for months. After a protracted legal battle lasting for over six years, the court has now ordered the hospital to pay him a compensation of Rs half million.
“The judgement will prove to be a milestone as the hospitals will now took utmost care in treatment of patients. It will stop frauds with the common patients,” said Amit Kumar, a lawyer who appeared for the victim.
