Child suffers Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy with West Syndrome, Doctors qualifications in question: Delhi HC seeks response to Fortis, Govt, DGHS
New Delhi: Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, the Delhi government and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) office have been issued notice by the Delhi High Court seeking their response in a medical negligence case, wherein a five-year-old who was treated by two senior doctors working as child specialists/ super-specialist in the facility allegedly concealed facts about birth injury. It was alleged that due to delay in proper treatment, the child's brain got completely damaged and he got paralysed both mentally and physically.
In its June 14 order, a single-judge bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh issued notice to the hospital and authorities.
The court was hearing a petition filed by the mother of a patient, alleging that the private hospital deliberately concealed his birth injury and deprived him of timely treatment.
She further alleged that the two doctors, whose 'negligence' left her son Devarsh Jain bedridden for life, claim to be specialist and super-specialist, but they do 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.
She had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in 2019 and alleged that the hospital treated the patient for 12 days in ICU and discharged him on the basis of a wrong medical summary saying that he was normal.
She claimed that the patient would often cry in chronic pain and this went on till 2019 when she took him to another doctor where after an MRI, it was found that the child had suffered an injury at the time of birth.
“The truth was otherwise and the child was not healthy as certified by the accused doctors. As stated above, the child turned into a vegetable in the next 7 months and is presently suffering with unabated Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy along with "West Syndrome", " the petitioner argued.
The educational qualifications of the two doctors were also put into question in a separate petition. The child's mother said that the registration status and educational qualifications of the two doctors are not those of specialists.
“It shows that the doctor, who is a Director and Head of the Department of Neonatology in the hospital, has an MBBS degree from Kasturba Medical College in 2004 along with Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health (MRCPCH) from the United Kingdom in 2007. He also has a Fellowship Training in Neonatology from National Neonatology Forum (India) in 2016,” the petition said.
The medical certificate obtained by the Delhi Police investigating officer prima facie revealed that the doctor had passed MBBS in 2004 and was only admitted to the membership of the MRCPCH from the United Kingdom in 2007.
Furnishing response in the matter, as sought by the court earlier, the National Medical Commission (NMC), in a written reply submitted that one of the two doctors, accused of medical negligence due to which a newborn fell into a vegetative state, does not have recognised qualification to be called a child specialist.
It further admitted that even the additional qualification of another doctor making him a neonatologist is not available with it and requested the court to get it from the Delhi Medical Council (DMC).
Meanwhile, the Delhi Medical Council (DMC), in its reply to the court stated that he had applied online for the registration of his additional qualifications and they accordingly entered the same in their medical register. The DMC also stated that MRCPCH is a postgraduate qualification. The DMC, however, did not mention if the doctor completed the course and obtained the certificate of completion of training to be a specialist.
According to a recent media report in The Indian Express, the court has issued notice to the hospital, Delhi government and DGHS seeking their stand and the matter has been listed for hearing on July 5.
