SPB's Hospital Bills: SP Charan Refutes Rumours About The Billing Problem With MGM

The entire world is mourning the death of legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam who breathed his last on September 25th at a Chennai hospital. Soon after his death, a message about the cost of SPB's hospital treatment went viral. The messages that have been shared on social media platforms and WhatsApp group alleged that the family of SPB was not able to pay the hospital bill and they had to seek the centre's help.

One of the messages reads, “3 Crore plus for 51 days . . Rs 1.85 crore balance had to be paid by SPB’s family in the morning to take the mortal remains. An Appeal to Delhi and the relief.. Vice president Venkaiah Naidu’s daughter went and cleared up the hospital bill after which the body was released”.

Reacting to this, SP Charan said that, "We regularly kept making payments and the insurance covered one portion of it. At last, after Appa's passing, when we asked doctors on what amount was pending, we heard from them that the Chairman had directed the management to forgo the rest of the charges."

He also said that, "I had reached out to the Health Secretary a few days prior to Appa’s death, mainly to clarify the government’s statement in which they had said that they were willing to offer any kind of help to the family. I was not sure if it was meant financially and I had asked him if there were any such statements made by the government. He said he'll check and get back at the earliest. I didn't hear back but I wasn't expecting a quick response either.”

MGM’s official spokesperson Vasanth Kumar also reacted to the controversy and said that, “Though it is a tragic loss, we are honoured to have taken care of SPB on his final days. We had a multi-disciplinary team of doctors to treat him. Dr. Deepak Subramaniam, who was also a member of this team, is a close friend of Charan."

He further added that, “The claims surrounding the bills are false. Patient confidentiality is very important, so we cannot reveal how much the bill was. Also, the Tamil Nadu government was regularly in touch with us, enquiring about SPB’s health."

SP Charan requested media, "Please have some mercy on our family. Please show us some respect. Please give us some time to grieve. We have not been given time to grieve. Every day a new problem comes up."