Two experts from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) have been included in the probe team set up by Max Healthcare authorities to investigate the case of a premature baby being wrongly declared dead, the hospital said on Sunday. The case pertains to the birth of twins (boy and girl) on November 30. Both the babies were declared dead by the Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh. However, the family later found the boy was alive. “The expert group set up by Max Healthcare to investigate the circumstances and protocols followed regarding the premature delivery (23 weeks/5 months) of the twins and the subsequent declaration of death at Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, is working swiftly towards concluding their detailed investigations. “Dr Arun Agarwal, Chairman, Ethic Committee, IMA and Dr Ramesh Datta, Joint Secretary, IMA, have been included as external experts in the group,” Max Healthcare said in a statement. The investigation is expected to conclude by tomorrow and the findings are expected to be shared thereafter, it said. Max Healthcare authorities had ordered an enquiry into the case on December 1, saying a doctor concerned had been “asked to proceed on leave immediately”.
In the wake of a premature baby being wrongly declared dead by a city-based private hospital, police have sent a notice to the hospital authorities, asking them to join the probe. Doctors at the Max Hospital had declared the baby dead but he was found to be alive later.
Police have already registered a case of attempt to commit culpable homicide against two doctors. Investigators have sent a notice to the hospital to join the probe and share documents pertaining to the case. The boy was one of the prematurely born twins (boy and girl) on the morning of November 30 to Varsha at the hospital. The other baby was stillborn. The mother was brought to the hospital from a nursing home in Paschim Vihar, police had said. The hospital had earlier told the parents that both the babies were stillborn. They were handed to them in a polythene bag, but just before their last rites, the family found that the boy was alive, police said. The baby is undergoing treatment at a nursing home in Pitampura and doctors said he had a 40 per cent chance of survival, they added.