The father of seven-year-old Adya, who died during treatment for dengue at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking cancellation of the licence of the hospital and weeding out of corruption in the healthcare system.
This comes almost a month after a four-member committee set up by the Haryana government found several faults with Fortis Memorial Research Institute in connection with the case.
‘Licence not cancelled’
In a two-page letter addressed to Mr. Modi, Adya’s father Jayant Singh demanded his urgent intervention in the matter saying that “the licence of hospital and doctors, who murdered my child have not been cancelled, despite a conclusive report by the Haryana Medical Board”.
“You will be shocked to know [this has been proved and recorded in the government report] that the private hospital forged the signatures of my wife and I on the treatment consent forms,” the letter further reads. Mr. Singh also wrote that one of the directors of hospital insulted him by offering money in exchange for silence on his daughter’s death.
Demanding that a new Medical Regulator be set up to deal with complaints of medical negligence, Mr. Singh, a resident of Dwarka, in his letter said that the Medical Council of India and the similar State Medical Boards were ill-equipped to deal with the rampant incidence of medical negligence across the country. “You will be shocked to learn that despite 30 lakh Indians dying each year due to medical negligence, our Medical Council has till date found only 146 doctors guilty of medical negligence,” said the letter.
Marked up prices
Taking up the larger cause of corruption in the healthcare system, Mr. Singh wrote that conspiracy between Pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and doctors required urgent and immediate intervention. “In my own case, the government body responsible for regulating drug prices (NPPA), discovered that the hospital had marked up the prices of medicines ranging from 5 % to 1,700%”.
He expressed hope that Mr. Modi would use his mandate to revolutionise and cleanse corrupt and inadequate healthcare system.
