An elderly woman fought against a posh old age home after her sister passed away after vacating the home complaining of deficiency of services during a medical emergency.
The sister took up the case with the apex consumer commission and had won a compensation of Rs 10,000 and refund of Rs 3,40,000 from the old age home. The commission ordered the home to provide the compensation and refund within four weeks.
According to complainant Kamakshi Pant, her sister Lakshmi Chander stayed in a private old age home — Classic Kudumbam — in 2008. “She gave a cheque for Rs 10 lakh as caution deposit on the understanding that the deposit will be refunded at the time of surrendering the premises. Lakshmi Chander paid Rs 11,000 every month for food and accommodation.
As mentioned by the management of Classic Kudumbam, she was assured that a doctor would visit the home every day for consultation. But such service was not available for my sister. She required injections twice a week.
The doctor’s frequent absence prevented Lakshmi Chander from maintaining a regular record of blood pressure,” said Ms Kamakshi Pant in the complaint.
She alleged that a consultant doctor at the home gave wrong medicines to Lakshmi and she was admitted to a critical care unit of a hospital. “Lakshmi moved out of the home citing deficiency of services in December 2009. But the management failed to approve her surrender of the apartment.
They also said they would return the caution deposit only after the occupation of another person in the apartment,” Kamakshi added. Meanwhile, Lakshmi passed away in February 2010.
In their counter, Classic Kudumbam said an in-house doctor attended to Lakshmi and all the services promised to her were rendered to her satisfaction.
They said room fittings and electrical fittings were found damaged in the room and they deducted money for repairs. The consumer commission ruled that there was deficiency of service and Kamakshi had a right to claim compensation.