Sruthi Vibhavari
Hyderabad: In a heart-breaking case, a son struggled to get his father’s dead body released from the hospital. Both his parents and a cousin who contracted COVID-19 passed away in a week’s span. 20-year old Radesh Reddy, a COVID-19 patient himself was slapped with a total of 17 lakh bill by a city-based private hospital where his father was admitted.
Reddy’s mother passed away a day before his father. He had to pay over eight lakh to get her body released from the hospital. While conducting her final rites, he received a call from his father complaining about the gross neglect of the hospital authorities and staff. Later that evening, when his father complained of breathlessness, he was put on the ventilator. He did not respond to the treatment and died soon after.
“The hospital demanded that I clear eight lakh pending dues at once. When I contacted the media, they reduced it to two lakhs. I had to borrow the money and clear the dues”, Reddy narrates his traumatic experience.
Reddy blames the private hospital management of negligence that led to the death of his father.
Radhesh Reddy also took to Twitter to write about his tragic loss. K Taraka Ramarao condoled with him on his loss and condemned the exploitation of private hospitals during a crisis.