An Iranian hospital has set up a cell to detain patients who are unable to pay their medical bills...
An Iranian hospital has set up a cell to detain patients who are unable to pay their medical bills.
Tehran's daily paper, Aftab-e Emrouz, reported that Sina, a state-run hospital in central Tehran, had stationed three 'around the clock' guards in the cell in its orthopedic unit.
"To make sure patients will fulfil their financial obligations, we began detaining patients who failed to pay several months ago," it quoted the unnamed director of the hospital as saying. "We had no other choice. We have to pay our staff and had to assign a room for this purpose."
The newspaper said the hospital locked up an average 24 patients a month because they could not pay.
Officials at the hospital were concerned about the rising cost of feeding and clothing the detainees, some of whom have been languishing in the cell for months. Hospitals in Iran usually demand at least one-third of medical costs in cash in advance before treatment can begin, even in some emergency cases.
