In Aligarh, man ‘beaten to death by staff’ over Rs 4,000 unpaid hospital bill

According to family members, some hospital staff attacked Khan and other relatives accompanying him. They said the hospital was demanding money for a visit, but they left since they could not afford the treatment.

The Indian Express contacted the private hospital; the authorities there did not comment on the incident.

The police have recovered CCTV “in which a scuffle is visible with the hospital staff”, SP (City), Aligarh, Abhishek said.

“The SHO of Kwarsi police station has filed an FIR and has been asked to investigate the footage and ground evidence. Once the PM (postmortem) report is in, we will ascertain the nature of injuries. Investigation will take place accordingly,” Abhishek said.

On the incident, the SP said, “The victim, Sultan Khan, had come to the private hospital for treatment on Thursday. As per their (family’s) complaint, there was an issue over payment, which resulted in a scuffle. In that scuffle, the patient died, as per the family.”

The family alleged that the hospital charged them extra even though Khan received no treatment. Chaman, a relative, said Khan was facing problem while urinating in the last few days and had gone to the private hospital in Kwarsi area for a check-up. “They told us that an ultrasound needed to be done. We checked about the admission fees and told them specifically that we will get him treated only if we can afford it. They billed us around Rs 4,000 for medicines without carrying an ultrasound,” Chaman said.

The family agreed to pay for the medicines, which came to Rs 3,783 as per a copy of the bill, but were then asked to pay a further Rs 4,000 at the counter for “visiting” the hospital, Chaman said.

He said they told the hospital officials that Rs 200 had been paid at the counter for the same purpose, and that the extra fees was unwarranted.

“We were stepping outside when a man stopped us. A light scuffle took place,” Chaman said. Some metres ahead of the hospital, four or five people came and beat us up. My relative (Khan) suffered a fatal blow – he died. We were injured, too.”

A CCTV footage of the incident, dated Thursday, shows unidentified men beating up family members on a Scooty. In the footage, some women, purportedly belonging to the same family, can be seen running away as the assault continues.

The family alleged that they were cornered on the Scooty and beaten up.

The victim’s sample has been sent for a coronavirus test.