Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that strict action will be taken against the hospital, once the report has been finalised.
One of the prematurely born twins, who was mistakenly declared dead by a private hospital in Delhi, died on Wednesday after battling for life for five days. The 22-week baby, who was born at the Max hospital in Shalimar Bagh, was undergoing treatment at the Delhi New Born Centre in Pitampura.
"The infant died due to multiple organ failure. His condition was critical from the very first day. He was immediately put on ventilator and had been responding to medicines. He passed away in Wednesday afternoon. We had informed the family about his condition after looking at all the medical reports. The survival chances were quite less," Dr Sandeep Gupta, director, Delhi New Born Centre, said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that strict action will be taken against the hospital, once the report has been finalised. "The final report will come out in two days. No one will be spared, if found guilty," Jain said on Wednesday.
The matter was reported last Friday, after Ashish Kumar, father of the twins, who was on his way to the cremation ground, noticed that one of the polybags handed over by the doctors was moving.
The agitated family members then protested outside the hospital throughout the day.
"We will not cremate our baby till this hospital is shut. We will not let this matter die," Kumar had said.
A preliminary report submitted by a panel of doctors to the Delhi government on Tuesday found the hospital guilty of not having followed the prescribed medical norms in dealing with the infants. The three-member panel has submitted the preliminary report after scrutinising hospital records and meeting the staffers concerned.
"No ECG tracings were done to check whether the child was alive. The body was handed over without written instructions. The dead and the alive children were not kept separately," the report stated.
A medical negligence case was registered under Section 308 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the hospital. Also, services of two doctors concerned were terminated on Sunday.
Reacting to the baby's death, Max hospital said in a statement:"We just learnt of the sad demise of the 23-week preterm baby, who was on ventilator support. Our deepest condolences are with the parents and other family members. While we understand that survival in extreme preterm births is rare, it is always painful for parents and family. We wish them the strength to cope with their loss."
The rising number of cases of medical negligence by private hospitals has prompted the Delhi government to prepare a legal framework to track the 'loot' and 'criminal negligence' by hospitals.
"We never wanted to interfere in the functioning of private hospitals, but the public should not suffer in any case. The general public is being looted and cheated by these hospitals, which are guilty of criminal negligence. As a responsible government, it is our duty to come up with a solution,"chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said.
While talking about the framework, he pointed out two recent incidents — a private hospital charging Rs 15 lakh from a dengue patient and Max hospital wrongly declaring the infant dead.
Union Health Minister JP Nadda also directed the Delhi government to look into the matter, after which the government ordered a probe and sought a preliminary report within three days.
The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch.
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