Baby death: Child panel asks district magistrate to take action

Noida: Taking cognizance of a complaint from a Noida-based techie couple about the birth of a stillborn child due to alleged negligence by two doctors of a private hospital, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has directed the Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate to look into the case and “take necessary action within 20 days”.
Ankit Garg and his wife Shweta had alleged that their first child was born still at Cloud Nine hospital, Sector 51, due to a delay of around three hours in the caesarean procedure of his wife on March 9, despite the last check-up on March 8 showing “everything normal”. An FIR was subsequently lodged against two doctors of the hospital — Dr Pratibha Singhal and Dr Ritika Sharma — under IPC Section 304a (death by negligence).

After the FIR, a three-member inquiry panel was constituted in the matter by chief medical officer Anurag Bhargava that gave its report on April 2. However, the panel had failed to specify the cause of death.

The couple complained to the NCPCR and the Medical Council of India. While the NCPCR has sought a report from the DM within 20 days, the MCI has referred the matter to registrar of the UP Medical Council in Lucknow stating that a decision on the complaint against the physician would be taken within six months.

CMO Anurag Bhargava, however, said the matter was referred to the principal of Meerut Medical College as the complainants “have become offensive” and the panel could not arrive at the cause of death. The DM said he would have to find out about the matter.

A spokesperson for Cloud Nine said: “Since the matter has been forwarded to the higher authorities, we will continue to support with all the documentation required. We would like to clarify that the patient had reported with an emergency condition and was attended to without any delay.”