Delhi’s Max group has terminated the services of two doctors allegedly involved in the case of a premature baby being wrongly declared dead, hospital authorities said today.
The hospital is caught in a huge controversy after it incorrectly declared a newborn dead. In a statement issued late on Sunday, Max Healthcare informed that it had decided to terminate the services of the two doctors involved.
"While the inquiry by the expert group which includes external experts from IMA is still in process, we have decided to terminate the services of the two treating doctors, Dr A P Mehta and Dr Vishal Gupta in the case relating to the twin extreme pre-term babies," Max Healthcare said in a statement, adding that the decision was arrived at after a meeting of the Max Healthcare authorities on Sunday over the incident.
"The strict action has been taken on the basis of our initial discussions with the expert group and as a reflection of our commitment to higher standards of care," it said.
The case pertains to the birth of twins (boy and girl) on November 30. Both the babies were allegedly declared dead by the Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh. However, the family later found the boy was alive.
"We wish to clarify that this action should not presuppose finding of any lapse by the expert group and should not be construed in anyway to be anything other than an expression of our continued commitment to providing quality health care," the statement read.
Earlier in the day, the hospital had said two experts from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had been included in the probe team set up by the Max Healthcare authorities to investigate the case.
The Max Healthcare authorities had ordered an inquiry into the case on December 1.
Meanwhile, fresh allegations were levelled against the hospital, the family of the infants has claimed that the doctors demanded Rs 50 lakh to keep the baby alive and another Rs 35,000 to improve the chances of the woman’s survival.
The father of the twins, Ashish, stated in the FIR that the hospital told him that the foetuses his six-month pregnant wife, Varsha, was carrying had only 10-15 per cent chances of survival.
He further alleged that the hospital advised three injections worth Rs 35,000 and claimed that the chances of his wife’s survival had risen to 30 per cent and that the hospital told him that the bill for keeping the surviving baby in the nursery till it was out of danger would be Rs 50 lakh.
The Delhi Police have registered a case of attempt to culpable homicide against the hospital.
On November 29, the doctors said Varsha needed to be operated upon after beginning to bleed. The father revealed that the first baby was delivered around 7.30am on November 30 and the second at 7.42. The first was alive at birth and the second, the doctors announced, had died.
At Madhuban Chowk near Rohini, when the family was driving towards the crematorium, some members sensed movement in the polythene parcel. They opened the package to find one baby alive.
(With PTI inputs)
