Jammu, May 8 (PTI) Authorities in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday constituted an inquiry team to probe into the allegations of overcharging by private hospitals.

Deputy Commissioner, Samba, Anuradha Gupta, ordered the inquiry following reports of excessive charging by a recently designated non-COVID hospital in the district, an official spokesman said.

He said an inspection team headed by Assistant Commissioner, Revenue, Jatinder Mishra visited the Kristu Jyoti Hospital and enquired about the reports of overcharging by the hospital administration from patients visiting OPD.

Gupta issued strict warnings and sought a detailed inquiry report from the inspection team against the hospital before initiating action under the Disaster Management Act, the spokesman said.

He said the deputy commissioner directed the surveillance teams to conduct surveys of all private hospitals in the district and ensure that no case of overcharging or any kind of irregularities are found.

Directions were given to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to stay watchful about the reasonability of fees charged by different hospitals and private nursing homes for OPD and other services, the spokesman said.

He said the CMO was also asked to ensure that the list of fees be displayed prominently in private hospitals.

Gupta also exhorted upon all the stakeholders to cooperate and comply with the standing government orders, the spokesman said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)