Bengal health commission directs private hospitals to hand over bodies to kin within 5 hrs of death

Kolkata, Sep 9 (PTI) The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has directed all private hospitals and nursing homes in the state to hand over the bodies of deceased patients to their kin within five hours of death, failing which the medical establishments would have to provide written explanations, an official said on Tuesday.

The directive has been issued following growing complaints about hospitals withholding bodies over unpaid dues or insurance-related delays, a practice the commission has termed unethical and unacceptable.

"A body must be released to the family within five hours of death. If it is kept longer, there should be a valid reason, and that must be documented. Only in cases where the family requests additional time, such as when a relative is arriving from out of state or abroad, can this limit be extended," the commission stated.

Hospitals that violate this order risk losing their license, the commission warned in its directive issued on Monday.

It was also made clear that financial disputes cannot justify detaining the body of a deceased patient.

"If any bills are unpaid, hospitals are to report the matter to the commission, which will then take responsibility for recovering dues from the patient's family.

"Private hospitals and nursing homes cannot use pending payments or insurance delays as a reason to withhold a body. Harassing families in this way is unacceptable," the commission said.

The directive was issued following a complaint filed by Mudasir Parvez, who alleged that a private hospital in the southern part of Kolkata's New Alipore area had detained the body of his relative for around 15 hours after death on August 12, citing a delay in insurance payment.

The commission launched an inquiry following the complaint.

"Such incidents are deeply unfortunate and will not be tolerated. After receiving the New Alipore complaint, we examined the matter and issued this directive to prevent further distress to families," WBCERC chairperson Justice (Retd.) Asim Kumar Banerjee said. PTI SCH ACD