Hospital said it has initiated an inquiry into the infant’s case
The Delhi Medical Council will Monday issue a showcause notice to Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, which had erroneously declared a newborn as dead. The hospital is also facing the heat on another front, with the Delhi government set to issue a fresh showcause notice over allegations that it violated norms in treating patients from the economically weaker section (EWS), and in providing extra beds mandated for fever patients to non-fever patients during the dengue outbreak, sources told The Sunday Express.
On Friday, allegations had emerged that the hospital handed over twins it had declared dead to the family in “polythene packets”, and that one of the babies turned out to be alive while being taken to the cremation ground. “We will give them one week to reply on details of the incident and of doctors against whom the inquiry is being conducted by the hospital. We will set up a committee to adjudicate the matter once we receive the reply,” DMC registrar Dr Girish Tyagi said.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that if the hospital is found guilty after a probe, its “licence can be cancelled”. The infant, meanwhile, continues to be critical and on ventilator support. “Doctors said the chances of survival are slim,” Deepak, the baby’s uncle, said.
‘EWS norms flouted’
Story continues below this ad
Meanwhile, Jain said that “on November 22, a showcause notice was issued to the hospital for not fulfilling EWS norms”. Senior health department officials claimed that since no reply was received, the government will issue a second showcause notice to the hospital, which “will be given 30 days to explain why its registration should not be cancelled”.
Sources said the first showcause notice was issued after a surprise inspection by senior officials, who found that at the EWS OPD, “doctors were not available throughout OPD timings”, and in the EWS IPD, “free beds were not labelled in general ward”.
Sources also alleged that “the hospital had taken advantage of the expanded bed capacity meant for fever patients by treating non-fever patients instead”. “On November 22, we issued a showcause notice seeking an explanation on why registration should not be cancelled for flouting the rules. We also asked why we should not ask DDA to cancel the lease for not abiding by rules that mandate reserving 10% IPD and 25% OPD for EWS patients. They were asked to reply in seven days. Since we have not received a reply, we will initiate action. The registration is done under the Delhi Nursing Home Act, 1953, which mandates that before cancelling the registration, we have to issue another showcause notice and give them one month to reply. We will also communicate this to the DDA,” a senior Health Department official said.
The official added, “For dengue and chikungunya, the hospital was allowed to temporarily expand bed capacity up to 20% for fever patients. On those 10 beds, there were eight patients, but four were not fever patients.” Max Healthcare authorities said: “Max Healthcare has provided clarification to the notice with documentary and photographic evidence. The investigation was carried out at 8 am which is the time for cleaning of the OPD. That, coupled with debris from the neighbouring construction site, created an impression of non-cleanliness. The hospital had communicated that a better OPD area is being readied… The hospital remains committed to providing free treatment to 25% EWS patients in OPD and 10% EWS patients in IPD… It is pertinent to note that MHC purchased this land through an open DDA auction without government subsidy.”
4 min read
Hospital said it has initiated an inquiry into the infant’s case
