Srinagar, July 9, : The department of Legal Metrology after receiving a complaint from a consumer, against a diagnostic medical laboratory, for issuing an incorrect medical report of blood, showing high TSH level, penalized the Lab for negligence.
Due to this, the consumer was plunged into deep mental agony, thinking that she is suffering from the hyper-thyroidism. Subsequently she repeated the medical test at two different labs on the following day, in order to ascertain whether she was actually suffering from the disease or not .To her surprise, the reports produced by the two labs revealed that the patient had normal TSH level. The complainant rushed to the medical lab whose report showed the high levels of TSH in order to make them aware of their negligence, but the management of the blood collection centre instead of confessing its mistake, mis-behaved with the consumer, which prompted her to lodge a written complaint in the Legal Metrology Department for deficiency of service.
The department issued a show cause notice to the management of the lab and the management in turn confessed that the sampling error may have crept in while collecting the blood sample. Both the parties were heard in-person and they mutually agreed to settle the complaint amicably outside the purview of Consumer Court. The management of the lab apologized to the complainant and paid her Rs.5, 000 as compensation for her deep mental agony. The department also slapped a fine of Rs. 2,000/- on the medical lab for using un-revivified precision digital scale in their premises.
The department of Legal Metrology is also enforcing the J&K Consumer Protection Act, 1987 and is vested with powers to lodge consumer complaints in the Consumer courts of the state. The aforesaid Act is in addition to all the existing consumer friendly laws.
