Seven days after a 22-week-premature baby was delivered by a 20-year-old mother in Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh and wrongly declared dead by the hospital, the infant passed away in a private nursing home in Pitampura on Wednesday.
The baby boy was found alive when he was being taken with his stillborn twin sister for last rites and their maternal grandfather, who was carrying them, sensed some movement. The family called him ‘Champ’ after his miraculous survival.
The boy’s uncle, Deepak, said that doctors told him about his nephew’s death around 12.30 p.m. on Wednesday. “He was on life support since November 30. On Tuesday, the doctors had told us that his condition was critical,” he said.
The baby’s post-mortem was conducted at Safdarjung Hospital but the family refused to take his body for last rites.
Premature birth
“The doctors [of Max hospital] have still not been arrested and we won’t conduct the baby’s last rites till we get justice,” said Deepak.
The family also continued its protest outside Max hospital on Wednesday demanding action against the authorities and the doctors.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Wednesday that the government was ready to “take the strictest possible action” against the hospital.
Final report by Friday
While the preliminary report by the Health Department had found flaws in the hospital’s treatment of the baby, Mr. Jain said the government would wait for the final report before taking any action. The report is expected by Friday.
The preliminary report had found that the hospital did not perform ECG tracing before declaring the baby dead. Mr. Jain had on December 2 said the licence of the hospital could be cancelled if found guilty of negligence. On Wednesday, however, he did not mention what action the government may take.
He said the same hospital had been issued a notice on November 22 for violating norms for treating economically weaker section (EWS) patients.
Mr. Jain said the hospital had also misused the government’s permission to increase beds by 10% for fever patients.
The permission was meant for the season when dengue and malaria cases are higher, but the hospital had continued to have more beds past the stipulated time as well as use them for patients with other ailments. Mr. Jain said the government would take action on all three issues after the final report was submitted.
Case transferred
On Wednesday, the investigation into the case was also transferred from North-West district police to Crime Branch. “The notification came late Wednesday evening stating that the case has been transferred to Crime Branch,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West) Aslam Khan.
The police had registered a case under Section 308 of the Indian Penal Code.
