The district administration has issued show-cause notices to 14 private hospitals in Aurangabad city of Maharashtra for overcharging COVID-19 patients to the tune of more than Rs 62 lakh, an official said on October 1.

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The hospitals have been told to file their replies to the notices in seven days, a district official said in a press release here. If managements of these hospitals don't act on inflated medical bills, the administration will take legal action against them, he warned. After the notices were served, one of the 14 erring hospitals returned Rs 3.30 lakh which was charged in excess from patients, the release said.

Rates for treating coronavirus patients in private hospitals are fixed by the state government. The district administration had received many complaints from patients about inflated bills, the official said. Acting on the complaints, the district collector deployed staff in private hospitals to check bills collected from patients, he said. During scrutiny of these bills, it was observed that 656 coronavirus patients were overcharged to the tune of Rs 62.33 lakh, the official said. Meanwhile, the central Maharashtra district has recorded 33,648 COVID-19 cases and 937 deaths till September 30, a second official said.