hyderabad less than a week since the launch of a whatsapp helpline for patients to register their grievances against private hospitals state health authorities have received as many as 512 complaintsmost complaints pertain to overcharging and acts of harassment such as holding back treatment not letting relatives of patients talk to them and threats by hospital authorities some patients said they felt more stressed due to hospitals behaviour rather than the actual illnessin one complaint a patient claimed that the hospital had threatened to discontinue treatment if the full payment was not made immediately an advance payment of 5 lakh was made immediately but the bill crossed 8 lakh within a week the patient saidin another complaint the hospital is said to have held back a patient over clearance of dues and ultimately handed over the patients body in one case a hospital had allegedly charged over 18 lakh for a 14day hospital staycomplaints about overcharging and hospitals threatening to hold back treatment are the most common ones while there are others where patients complained that despite having mild symptoms patients were kept in icu wards and charged exorbitantly for days without conducting the covid19 tests said an senior official from the state health department according to highlyplaced sources many patients eventually landed up in government hospitals midway through their treatments as they could afford the costsprivate hospitals began admitting anyone who could pay the higher tariffs and then started refusing patients once fixed charges were announced by the government the shortage of beds is therefore an artificial shortage said the source