Yemen family claims hospital not returning passports, police tells HC probe underway

The Delhi Police Friday informed the Delhi High Court that its investigation is underway into a matter in which passports of a Yemen family were allegedly taken by a private hospital here where the complainant's one-year-old son was undergoing treatment.

The court was hearing a plea by a Yemen national, who along with his wife had come to India for medical treatment of their infant son, urging that the private hospital, situated in East Delhi here, be directed to return their passports to enable them to return to their country.

The police submitted that the complainant's statement has been recorded by the investigating officer and further investigation is underway and is being closely monitored by the Deputy Commissioner of Police concerned.

Justice Yashwant Varma listed the matter for July 20 to enable the counsel for the police to seek further instructions in the case.

The counsel for the police submitted that there appeared to be some nexus between the hospital and the interpreter, a woman, who was assigned to the family by the hospital and took a huge amount of money from them.

He further said that certainly the passports were not with the hospital but are with the interpreter and the police need to find out how the documents reached the woman.

The high court, which on July 11 took cognisance of a complaint made by the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen to the private hospital concerning the family's sufferings, had asked the counsel for the Delhi Police and SHO of Madhu Vihar in East Delhi to obtain instructions on the issue.

The counsel for the hospital had claimed in the court that it did not have the passports of the wife and child of the petitioner man.

The man, in his plea, said received a performa Invoice from the hospital in March this year for the treatment of his son, who was born in July last year, for ''shunt revision and excision of the Meningomyelocele and repair of defect surgery'' and the hospital's Department of Neurosurgery had given an estimated cost of USD 7,000 to 7500.

He along with his wife and son came to India in March itself and an interpreter assigned to them by the hospital, based in East Delhi, met them at IGI Airport here.

On April 14, 2022, the child was diagnosed with Meningomyelocele and swelling over the lower back and admitted to the hospital and was advised of surgery, the plea said, adding that the interpreter repeatedly asked the man to transfer money to her bank account as well as to another person's account but no invoice was given to him.

Meningocele repair (also known as myelomeningocele repair) is surgery to repair birth defects of the spine and spinal membranes.

On April 20, the first surgery was performed on the child and after five days, he was discharged but the interpreter kept asking the man to deposit more money on May 2, when the minor's condition deteriorated, he was again admitted to the hospital and a second surgery was done.

It said when the man started facing financial difficulties and had no money to pay for the exorbitant demands of the hospital and the interpreter, he requested the institution to discharge the child but the administration asked him to further deposit USD 3500 and also asked him to hand over their original passports on the pretext of completing some formalities.

The plea said the child was discharged, however, despite repeated requests, the details of the medical treatment, medical bill, and receipts/invoices were not provided by the hospital and even the passports were not returned.

Later, the man's passport was returned but not of his wife and child and the interpreter demanded further money after which he approached the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen, it claimed.

The plea said that on June 10, the embassy sent a letter to the hospital stating that as per the Performa Invoice of March 7, the estimated cost of surgery was around USD 7,000 to 7,500 but the petitioner has been charged double the amount.

The embassy also stated that it has received a complaint against the hospital and interpreter that the petitioner has not been given the patient report, bills of treatment, and receipt of payment and that the interpreter refused to return the passport of the infant patient and his mother, the plea said.

It added that the embassy requested the hospital to hand over the passports immediately but nothing was done and the man's money spent on return flight tickets was wasted.

Thereafter, a complaint was made to the police for illegally keeping the passports of the family and also urged the authorities to take action for refund of extra money charged but nothing was done, it said.