The private hospital accused of medial negligence, after sending a living newborn to a funeral ground in a body bag, has had its licence withdrawn.
Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, lost its licence to operate, with immediate effect, on Friday after the Delhi government came down heavily on the institution.
The newborn baby was incorrectly declared dead a week ago, only to be rescued after his grieving family noticed a slight movement in the body bag, while they were heading towards a funeral ground.
Tragically, the newborn has now died
It later transpired that doctors had incorrectly declared the premature twins born to Varsha Bidawat, 21, were both dead, immediately after their delivery.
One of the twins had indeed died, but his sibling survived for a further week following his rescue. Sadly, he too passed away, on Thursday, while under the care of a nursing home in Pitampura.
A panel formed by the Delhi government to look into the case found the Max Hospital administration guilty of not following prescribed medical norms in dealing with newborn infants.
Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain told Mail Today: ‘Delhi government has cancelled the licence of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, over medical negligence in the case.
The Delhi government has cancelled the licence of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, with immediate effect, after the hospital erroneously declared the newborn boy dead
‘The medical fault which happened at the Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, is a criminal medical negligence and it is not acceptable at all.’
In an attempt to deter similar problems occurring at other private healthcare facilities, Jain added: ‘If in the future, cases of medical laxity come up at any private hospitals, none of them would be spared. Stringent action will be taken against them.’
He said while health officials, ‘will not interfere in the day-to-day functioning of any private hospital, they cannot play with the lives of patients. We will not tolerate criminal negligence.’
Earlier, the three-member doctors’ panel, in its preliminary report, found Max Shalimar Bagh guilty for not having followed prescribed medical norms in dealing with newborn infants.
It reported: ‘No ECG tracings were done to check whether the child was alive. The body was handed over without written instructions. Dead and alive infants were not kept separately.’
Meanwhile, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that ‘criminal negligence by any hospital will not be tolerated’.
The family of the dead twins has thanked Delhi government. ‘We are thankful to the Delhi chief minister and health minister for taking the strongest action against Max healthcare,’ said Deepak Bidawat, an uncle of the deceased twins.
Max Hospital, Shalmar Bagh
They asked the government to arrest the doctors responsible for the botch-up.
The Delhi health minister said that it was not the first time that Max Hospital had been under the scanner.
‘Max is a habitual offender. Three notices had been issued to the hospital over lapses involving the EWS (extremely weaker section) quota patients and additional beds.
‘It has been found guilty in those cases, too. The action taken on it is a continuation of previous notices,’ Jain said.
This week’s action initiated against Max, Shalimar Bagh, leading to the cancellation of its licence, was on the basis of three cases of oversight involving the twins’ case, EWS services and fever beds.
The Delhi government has now ordered Max Healthcare to not register any new patients.
Jain said: ‘Max Hospital (Shalimar) continues to treat admitted patients, but it cannot take new case now. I have directed the hospital to tell admitted patients they can shift, or they can continue their treatment at the hospital.’
The government has directed the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) and the Medical Council of India to take action against the accused doctors.
DMC registrar Dr Girish Tyagi said: ‘It is the first time a bold step like cancelling the licence of any big corporate hospital has been taken. Had it been a small nursing home or a private clinic, things would not have been same. Max Shalimar’s licence cancellation will be a deterrent for other private hospitals.’
Max Hospital authorities issued a statement after the licence cancellation order was issued: ‘We have received notice of cancellation of the licence of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh.
‘We strongly believe that this ruling is harsh and that we have not been given an adequate opportunity to be heard.’