Delhi government cancels Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh's licence for wrongly declaring baby dead

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Friday cancelled the licence of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh after the final inquiry report found the hospital guilty as it had declared a newborn dead despite it being alive.

“We have cancelled the licence of the hospital after it was found guilty of criminal negligence. We will not tolerate any such activities,” Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain said and added that all private hospitals need to operate within the legal framework.

Jain also said that Delhi is the capital of the country and it was imperative that it is kept exemplary. “Whatever happened at Max Hospital is not acceptable. Notices had been issued to hospital previously with regard to the treatment of EWS patients. The hospital is a habitual offender. Three incidents have been reported in the past 2-3 months from the hospital and hence their licence stands cancelled,” he said.

The health minister said that the existing patients have been given an option to shift to other facilities or can continue to take treatment there. “No new patients can be admitted to the hospital,” he added. Jain also said that only the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) and Indian Medical Association (IMA) were authorized to take action against the doctors involved in the incident.

Max Hospital, on November 30, had declared one of the newborn twins (a boy and girl) dead but the family had discovered that it was alive just before its last rites. The parents said the infants were handed over to them in a polythene bag. The boy later died on Wednesday while undergoing treatment at another private hospital.