Delhi government cancels license of Max Hospital for wrongly declaring baby dead

The Delhi government on Friday cancelled the licence of Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh with immediate effect after the hospital erroneously declared a newborn dead. The baby later died in a city nursing home.

Making the announcement, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the hospital can continue the treatment of patients who were currently admitted but cannot admit new patients.

Patients in the hospital can shift to a different hospital if they wish, Jain added.

The Minister said that a final report on an inquiry ordered by the government was submitted to them on Friday and the decision was taken after that.

The panel in charge of the inquiry found that the hospital’s administration was not following prescribed medical norms.

“Max Hospital is a habitual offender and three notices were served earlier to it. And, it has been found guilty in those cases too,” Jain said.

The hospital had earlier been served a notice for problems relating to treatment of patients under EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) category.

“Three notices had been issued to the hospital over lapses involving the EWS (extremely weaker section) quota patients. The action taken on it is in continuation of effect of previous notices,” he added.

The hospital had continued to use extra beds allotted to them for a particular time even after the deadline ended, the Minister said.

On November 30, Ashish Kumar’s wife gave birth to premature twins, boy and girl, at the hospital. The baby boy was declared dead by Max Hospital on November 30 and handed over to the parents in a plastic bag, along with its still-born sister.

However, the baby started moving while being taken for burial. The baby was then admitted to a clinic in Pitampura, but died after battling for life for nearly a week.

Prior to losing its license, Max Healthcare had said that it had decided to terminate the services of two doctors allegedly involved in the case.