Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh licence cancelled, calls govt’s move too ‘harsh’

The troubles at the 250-bedded super specialty hospital in Delhi surfaced with the media reporting on a case in which it declared one of the live twin babies as dead.

The male twin baby was found alive by family while taking the 'body' to the cremation ground and was later admitted in another private nursing home where the newborn though critical, was alive there for a week.

The Delhi government constituted a committee comprising senior doctors for inquiring into the said incident and a committee in its report said it found “prima facie case of gross medical negligence” on the part of the hospital authorities and order cancellation.

The DGHS in his cancellation order directed the hospital to refrain from admitting any new indoor patient and stop all outdoor treatment services in the premises with immediate effect.

The order asked the hospital to facilitate shifting of indoor patients admitted prior to cancellation to the hospital of their choice.

"We have found negligence of hospital," said Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain.

Jain called the hospital as a "habitual offender".

“We have received a notice of cancellation of the licence of Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh,” said Max Healthcare authorities answering to Moneycontrol email queries.

“We strongly believe that this ruling is harsh and that we have not been given an adequate opportunity to be heard,” Max Healthcare said.

Max Healthcare said it will explore all options available to challenge the order.

“We believe that even if there is an individual error of judgment, holding the hospital responsible is unfair and will severely limit the ability for patients to access treatment. This will compound the shortage of hospital facilities in the National Capital,” Max Healthcare said.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) national voluntary organisation of doctors called the cancellation of hospital isn’t a solution.

“I am not defending the mistake," said KK Aggarwal, President of IMA.

“Closing the hospitals is not the answer,” Aggarwal said. Aggarwal said IMA will be announcing “bold steps” on Monday on the way forward.

IMA in a release to media yesterday said cases such as the one happened in Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh though rare have occurred in the past across many parts of the world including the recent one in Safdarjung Hospital in June 2017.

"The clinical approach for an extremely premature fetus of less than 24 weeks of pregnancy is not viable for survivable," IMA release said.

“Many times, due to hypothermia, the heart beat in such cases many be absent and reverts from time to time," it added.

“In case parents decide not to resuscitate or not to provide intensive care treatment, the pre-viable baby is given only comfort care and checks periodically for any signs of life, by the doctors respecting the parents instructions.”

The ongoing developments at Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh and Fortis Hospital Gurugram alleged overcharging in a Dengue case have brought to the fore the debate on regulating private healthcare. 

Healthcare is an area where there is information asymmetry between the care provider and receiver. Also, a large part of healthcare expense in India is met out-of-pocket, with government spending on healthcare at abysmally low at 1.4 percent of GDP.