Delhi police issues notice to Max hospital in premature baby case

A detailed report on the incident has been sought from the Max hospital.

The Delhi Police has issued a notice to Max hospital administration over the issue of a premature baby being wrongly declared dead. This comes a day after the Delhi government ordered a probe into the alleged lapse by the private hospital.

A detailed report on the incident has been sought from the hospital by the Delhi police. The hospital administration has also been ordered to join the probe.

The investigators have also sought details of doctors and staff members on duty at the time of the incident.

On Saturday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said if the hospital is found guilty of negligence in the probe, its licence can be cancelled.

The government had also ordered an inquiry into the "criminal negligence" by the Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, after it surfaced that its doctors had declared the baby dead but he was found to be alive later.

"Once the report comes out, toughest action will be taken. And, if the hospital is found guilty of medical negligence, then its licence can also be cancelled," Jain told reporters.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised "strict action".

This baby boy was one of the prematurely born twins (boy and girl) delivered on the morning of November 30 to Varsha at Max Hospital. The other baby was stillborn.

The mother was brought to the hospital from a nursing home in Paschim Vihar, police said.

The parents were earlier told by the hospital that both the babies were stillborn, and were handed to them in a polythene bag, but just before their last rites, the family found that the boy was alive, police said.

"We rushed the baby to a nearby nursing home in Pitampura, where he is in life support," the father told reporters yesterday.

Jain said the report is expected in two days.

The Delhi health minister said, "The same hospital was issued a show cause notice on November 22 for not fulfilling some norms related to providing services to patients of EWS (economically weaker section) category."

(With PTI inputs)