Did treating doctors qualify as neonatal specialists? Delhi HC orders NMC, DGHS inquiry in Fortis Shalimar Bagh medical negligence case

New Delhi: In a recent development in a nearly decade-old alleged medical negligence case, the Delhi High Court has ordered a fresh inquiry into whether two doctors involved in the treatment of a child at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, possessed the qualifications required to practise as neonatal specialists.

The case relates to allegations that lapses in treatment resulted in the child suffering severe and irreversible brain damage, ultimately leaving the patient in a permanent vegetative state.

According to the TOI report, while hearing a contempt petition filed by the family of the child recently alleging non-compliance with earlier court directions by officials of the National Medical Commission (NMC), the HC directed the Secretary of the NMC and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to jointly examine the qualifications claimed by the doctors and submit a report within eight weeks.

The family alleged that, despite earlier court directions, authorities failed to clearly decide whether the doctors possessed valid specialist qualifications recognised in India.

Also read- Supreme Court issues notice to Fortis Shalimar Bagh in Child brain injury medical negligence case

Appearing for the family, senior advocate Dayan Krishnan argued that the issue had remained unresolved for years despite repeated proceedings before medical regulators and the court, TOI has reported

Case Background

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported on the case involving the concerned two doctors, who had been accused of medical negligence while treating a child. Filing a plea before the Delhi High Court, the child's mother had alleged that negligence by those two treating doctors Dr. Jain and Dr Singh left her son bedridden for life. It was alleged that even though the doctors claimed to be specialists and super specialists, they did not hold the requisite qualifications.

The petitioner's plight started in August 2017 when her son suffered brain injury in the said hospital. The injury became known after several months when the child grew. The child was born at Fortis in August 2017 and was initially declared unwell by the hospital immediately after the delivery through C-section.

It was submitted by the patient's mother that the hospital had treated the patient for 12 days in the ICU and discharged him based on a wrong medical summary stating that he was normal. However, allegedly, the child was not healthy and later turned into a vegetable in the next 7 months.

Filing the plea in 2019, she had informed the Court that the child was suffering from unabated Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy along with "West Syndrome".

The petitioner had alleged that the treating doctors had concealed the facts, and due to this, the child remained deprived of any medical treatment and kept suffering infantile spasm/seizures for more than seven months at home till his brain got completely damaged. This ultimately rendered the child permanently disabled, both mentally and physically. An FIR was also lodged in this case in 2019.

Earlier, while considering the matter, the Delhi HC bench headed by Justice Yogesh Khanna had directed the National Medical Commission (NMC), Delhi Medical Council (DMC), and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to look into post-graduate degrees of those two doctors, who were working as Child specialists/super-specialist at Fortis Hospital in Delhi.

NMC's response:

In response, NMC had informed the Court that those 2 senior doctors of Fortis Hospital did not have the recognised qualification to be called a child specialist. The Commission had informed that it did not even have the additional qualification of another doctor making him a neonatologist and therefore, the Commission had requested the Court to get it from the Delhi Medical Council.

Addressing the issue of Dr. Singh, NMC had admitted before the Court that he had obtained registration by the Delhi Medical Council only based on his MBBS qualification. According to NMC, except for MBBS, Dr Singh’s all other qualifications were unrecognised. "...there is no Additional Qualification Registration granted to Dr Singh on the basis of which he could be considered as a specialist," NMC had informed the Court.

Regarding Dr. Jain, NMC submitted that the medical council granted registration for his MBBS degree and additional registration for his Membership of MRCPCH, but the Commission was only aware of his MBBS degree. Back then, NMC had also stated that primarily registrations are granted by the State Medical Councils on their State Medical Registers and requested the Court to examine DMC's affidavit to find out if additional registration norms had been complied with.

DMC Action:

Thereafter, addressing the complaint, the Delhi Medical Council wrote to the Medical Superintendent of the Fortis Hospital and ordered these two doctors to refrain from claiming the status of neonatologist and practising as super specialists. The Council issued this direction after noting that as per the information available with it, these two doctors did not have the required medical qualification to be called specialists.

DMC had informed that while Dr. Singh is registered with the Council holding only an MBBS qualification, the other doctor, Dr. Jain, is registered with DMC holding MBBS and MRCP qualifications.

Therefore, considering the material on record and the information received from the UK General Medical Council regarding Dr. Jain, the Delhi Medical Council Executive Committee had opined that pending further inquiry, both Dr. Singh and Dr. Jain "should refrain from claiming neonatologist status and practicing as super-specialists." The Council had further added that the credentials of these two doctors as qualified paediatricians are also pending inquiry.

In October 2025, the Supreme Court also issued notice to the hospital.

While the matter initially focused on the treatment provided to the child, it later widened into a dispute over the credentials of the doctors involved and whether they were permitted to practise as super-specialists under Indian medical regulations.

Court records show that the issue surrounding the doctors’ qualifications has been under examination for several years. In March 2025, the Delhi High Court had directed authorities to clearly state whether the qualifications claimed by the doctors allowed them to undertake specialised medical practice in India.

Even though the Delhi Medical Council informed the court that the two doctors should refrain from describing themselves as neonatologists or super-specialists, the question of whether their qualifications were valid for specialist practice remained unresolved.

In its present contempt plea, the family alleged that the NMC and DGHS failed to comply with earlier court directions and did not provide a clear finding on the status of the qualifications relied upon by the doctors.

The matter will now be heard again after the inquiry report is submitted before the court.

Also Read: Doctors not given a chance to explain- says Fortis Shalimar Bagh after Delhi Medical Council bar