JOIN USThe Delhi government has cancelled the licence of Max Hospital days after its doctors declared newborn twins dead and handed over the infants to their parents in a polythene bag, though one of them was alive.
The infant died on Tuesday after battling for his life for about a week at a private hospital in west Delhi.
"We have cancelled the licence of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh. The negligence in the newborn death case was unacceptable," said Health Minister Satyendra Jain.
The move comes after a committee, set up by the Delhi government, conducted a probe into the case and held Max Hospital guilty of medical negligence.
In its preliminary report, the panel noted that doctors failed to conduct electrocardiography (ECG) tracing before declaring the twins dead.
Jain, who ordered the probe on December 1, assured last week of taking "strictest action" against the upscale private hospital after the enquiry committee submitted its preliminary report.
However, the hospital terminated the services of two doctors, A P Mehta and Vishal Gupta, earlier this week.
"We wish to clarify that this action should not presuppose finding any lapse by the expert group and should not be construed in any way to be anything other than an expression of our continued commitment to providing quality healthcare," Max Hospital said in a statement.
The Delhi Police registered a case against the hospital for culpable homicide on the basis of a complaint lodged by Ashish Kumar, father of the infant.
Kumar, who demanded the doctors' arrest, has told the police that the infant contracted an infection because Max Hospital handed them over in a polythene bag after declaring them dead.
The family of the newborn twins found that one of them (boy) was breathing while they were on their way to the crematorium.