Consumer forum holds old-age home guilty of deficient service

MUMBAI: South Mumbai Consumer Forum has directed a trust which runs an old-age home to pay legal costs to a man and also the refundable portion of the money he had paid, holding it guilty of providing deficient service.

The man had alleged that the old-age home did not take adequate care of his 82-year-old father, an Alzheimer patient.

Complainant Hemant Thakur admitted his father in Dignity Lifestyle Center here in February 2008, as he and his wife could not attend to his father because of their professional compulsions.

Thakur paid Rs 5.29 lakh for this. According to his complaint, he was told that Rs 4 lakh were refundable.

But when he visited the Centre a few days later, he saw that his father was not getting proper medical care. The authorities promised to provide more attention.

Thakur's father was hospitalised in June 2008 and he slipped into diabetic coma. When he showed no sign of improvement, Thakur shifted him to another hospital, where he died in July 2008.

The trust refused to refund Rs 4 lakh, so Thakur approached the consumer forum.

Before the forum, the trust contended that only Rs one lakh were refundable. The trust also said that Thakur's father was given good care during his stay, and his health was improving.

When Thakur demanded medical records, the trust authorities told the forum that the records were stolen but they had not filed any police complaint.

The forum, headed by president S M Ratnakar, held the Center guilty for deficiency of service and directed it to refund Rs 4 lakh and other dues of Rs 78,000 with 9 per cent interest. Further, the forum directed the Center to pay Rs 85,000 to Thakur towards the legal costs.