Twins come home nearly 2 months after birth, father says hospital sought Rs 13 lakh to discharge them

The hospital, however — in a statement issued after it asked the parents to take the twins home — said that the family misbehaved with the staff on September 7, endangering the doctors and the employees. It also said that despite being informed to take the twins home, the parents were not ready to complete the discharge formalities.

In a letter to the station house officer of Moti Nagar police station on September 7, Mishra had said that his wife gave birth to twins at the hospital on July 17, after which the babies were shifted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). However, even after moving the twins out of NICU, the hospital had not discharged them, he said.

“We were asked to pay Rs 13 lakh to take our children home,” said Mishra, whose wife gave birth to the twins through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) process 14 years after their wedding.

He claimed that he went to Apollo Cradle during the seventh month of his wife’s pregnancy after being referred there by ESI Hospital in Gurgaon. Mishra said that he was told that the entire process of his wife’s admission and delivery would cost Rs 4-5 lakh. He was also assured that he would receive a discount, reducing the cost to Rs 2.5-3 lakh, he said, adding that the hospital did not give anything in writing to him.

Since the delivery, Mishra claimed to have paid Rs 5.81 lakh, which he arranged from relatives. Even after his wife was discharged from the hospital, the children were kept in the NICU until August 31, he said. Despite his repeated requests, he was allegedly denied the opportunity to visit his children and it was only after he paid another Rs 1 lakh that he was allowed to see them. He also noted that a bill of Rs 60,000-65,000 was being generated every day at the hospital.

Mishra said the doctors told him that the twins were discharged from NICU on August 31 and kept in the nursery. “I asked them to discharge my children so that I can take them to ESI hospital. However, the hospital administration said they will try to help me through an NGO… The NGO did a photo shoot with me for a video to be posted on social media in hopes of raising funds, but my request was rejected because the video was deemed not emotional enough,” he said.

The hospital, meanwhile, said in a statement, “At Apollo Cradle, we are committed to providing the highest quality healthcare and ensuring patient’s comfort. This is pertaining to the case of delivery of IVF twin babies. The said case was one of the high-risk deliveries, which needed specialised care as the babies were delivered via emergency cesarian section and were very low birthweight babies. The Apollo Cradle medical team handled the case with due care and the babies were delivered safely and the mother was also doing fine.”

It added that the mother reported to Apollo Cradle in a critical condition. “Post her admission at Apollo Cradle, the team was able to extend the pregnancy till 30+2 weeks, for safe delivery of the babies. Immediately after birth, the pre-term twin babies were in critical condition and admitted in NICU. The medical team worked round-the-clock to ensure the survival of babies and are happy to inform that both babies are doing fine.”

The hospital said that the mother was discharged in good clinical condition on July 20, and once the babies became fit for discharge on August 31, the parents were informed. “The parents refused to complete the discharge formalities and behaved rudely toward the hospital staff. The staff repeatedly tried to get the parents to take the twins back home. However, the family continued to ignore the communication,” it said.