Illegal sale of minor oocytes: Doctors condemn Madras HC order to reseal Sudha Hospital

Chennai: Upholding the government order to shut down and seal Sudha Hospital in Erode, The Madras High Court on August 5 gave permission to the government to close the hospital rejecting the previous Single Judge's ruling to de-seal the hospital. A one-day protest was staged by the doctors and the staff in response to the court's order on August 6.

Quashing the previous ruling of the Single Bench Justice Abdul Quddhose of the Madras HC passed on July 21 rejected the order of the Director of Medical and Rural Health Services to temporarily seal the hospital after an enquiry indicated that a 16-year-old girl was forced to sell her eggs, the first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the judgement to shut down the hospital and seal its scanning facilities.

Justice Abdul rejected the government order on the grounds that the authorities failed to record the cause for suspending the registration of hospitals without issuing any notice as mandated under the Tamil Nadu Private Clinical Establishment (Regulation) act and Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that a 16-year-old girl from Erode had been forced by her mother to sell her eggs to private hospitals in Dharmapuri, Hosur, Erode, and Salem and at a private fertility centre after she hit the puberty age of 12. The investigation revealed that the eggs were sold for the first time without the permission of the girl, and her mother's partner, A Syed Ali had allegedly sexually harassed the girl several times in the last five years.

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Four private fertility hospitals in Tamil Nadu were directed to be closed down due to their alleged involvement in selling the eggs of a minor girl, who was forced by her family to donate her eggs eight times to private hospitals.

The announcement was made by Tamil Nadu health minister Ma Subramanian on July 14 who listed several legal actions in the case including shutting down the four hospitals, identified as the two branches of Sudha Hospitals in Erode and Salem, Ram Prasad Hospital in Perundurai and Vijay Srishti Fertility Centre in Hosur, and he further stated that disciplinary action would be taken against these hospitals.

The Sudha Hospital in Erode approached the Madras High Court seeking relief against the government order after a team led by R Premakumari, Joint Director of Health Services, Erode, sealed the scan centre at Sudha hospital in Erode and Sudha hospital in Salem, Ram Prasad hospital in Perundurai, and Vijaya hospital in Hosur was also closed on July 15.

After the Madras HC passed the order on August 5 to shut down the hospital in Erode, R Premkumari visited the hospital in the evening and gave two hours to the management to close the hospital.

In response to the matter, a one-day sit-in protest was held by the doctors and the hospital staff in front of the hospital in order to stop the health officials from sealing the hospital. Demanding job security, they also asked to meet Chief Minister MK Stalin and the Health and Family Welfare Minister in this regard. The government's action to seal the hospital prompted more than 250 private hospitals in Erode to suspend outpatient services on August 6.

Condemning the move of the government, IMA (Indian Medical Association) headquarters vice president Dr C N Raja told The News Minute, "We are not against the appropriate, legitimate actions taken by the government. But this is a drastic one. Closing the hospital damaged the reputation of the hospital and the doctors. And this is not something new that is happening in Tamil Nadu."

Questioning the state government's action, he asked "What are the actions, so far, taken against the government hospitals if the government finds any irregularities? Why are they (the government) targeting private hospitals repeatedly? This is unacceptable. All we ask is, why is there an urgency to close this hospital? Where is the concern about the common people who are getting treatment inside the hospital? What is the point of closing pediatric, cardiology, nephrology, and neurology departments of the hospitals if some doctors in the fertility department made mistakes?"

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"The government's action is being seen as demoralising and destroying the hospitals that have functioned for more than three decades, Dr Raja added. "To stop these drastic actions taken by the government against the private hospitals and to condemn this, private hospitals in Erode district today staged a protest," he added.

Concerned about the job security of doctors and staff of the hospital, IMA Tamil Nadu State Branch president Dr Palanisamy, said the action of the government to close the hospital would result in a lot of employees losing their job. The hospital gave full cooperation to the inquiry from the very beginning. Therefore, it is now unfair to close the entire hospital.

More than 400 hospital staff works at the hospital and countless numbers of patients get regular treatments. Closing the hospital would have a significant impact on both the hospital staff and the patients. In order to stop the action of closing the hospital, Dr Palanisamy asked the government to spare a thought into the matter.

"Overnight, the order from the government made every one of them insecure about their jobs. From the hospital's side, they didn't verify the Aadhaar card of the donor. The private hospitals can't verify every Aadhaar card they collect. Doctors who are working there are willing to cooperate with further inquiry too. If the government finds more than this (failed aadhaar card verification), it can go and take action against a particular department. Closure of the hospital not only harms the doctors and other medical staff but also the common public who are taking treatment in the hospital. We demand the government to look into this issue," Dr Palanisamy added.