New Delhi:
The Delhi government on Friday canceled the license of Shalimar Bagh Max Hospital after a premature baby was wrongly declared dead but found alive just before the last rites.
The move came after a three-member inquiry panel of the government submitted its final report to Health Minister Satyendar Jain.
“We have cancelled the license of Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh, the negligence in the new born death case was unacceptable,” said Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain.
“Max Hospital is a habitual offender and three notices were served earlier to it. And, it has been found guilty in those cases too. Three notices had been issued to the hospital over lapses involving the EWS (extremely weaker section) quota patients. The action taken on it is in continuation of effect of previous notices,” he said.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) of the Delhi government's health department, the licence has been cancelled till further orders.
We have cancelled the license of #MaxHospital Shalimar Bagh, the negligence in the newborn death case was unacceptable: Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain pic.twitter.com/vbUlT6PGB2
— ANI (@ANI) December 8, 2017
The decision to cancel the licence of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh was "harsh" and "unfair" and it will severely limit patients from accessing treatment, the hospital group said on Friday after its license was cancelled by the Delhi government.
"We have received the notice of cancellation of the license of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh. We strongly believe that this ruling is harsh," it said.
"We believe that even if there is an individual error of judgement, holding the hospital responsible is unfair and it will severely limit the ability for patients to access treatment. This will compound the shortage of hospital facilities in the national capital," the Max Healthcare authorities said.
The Delhi government cancelled the licence of the super specialty facility in north-west Delhi with immediate effect for alleged medical negligence including the twins case.
The Max Hospital case pertains to one of the premature twins, wrongly declared dead last week at the hospital where he was born, and who died during treatment at a nursing home in Pitampura a week later.
Both the babies were declared stillborn by the hospital and handed over to the family allegedly in a polythene bag. But to their utter horror, the family found that the boy was still alive, while they were on way to do their final rites.
"We will explore all options available to us. We stand firmly behind our commitment to patient care, clinical and service excellence to the best of our capabilities," the hospital's statement added.
(With PTI Inputs)
