Haryana Government’s panel probing into the allegations of overcharging against Gurugram based Fortis Hospital regarding a case in which a 7-year-old girl had died of dengue, has found “several irregularities” following which the government has decided to lodge an FIR against the hospital authorities.
“The Government will lodge an FIR against the private hospital while the license of its blood bank will also be cancelled. Besides, we will write to Medical Council of India (MCI) for taking appropriate action against the hospital,” said Health Minister Anil Vij while talking to the mediapersons here on Wednesday.
“In simple words, it was not a death, it was a murder… There were many irregularities, unethical practices and the protocol for diagnosis and medical duties was not followed by Fortis,” said Vij.
When asked about the sections under which an FIR would be lodged, Vij said that legal opinion would be sought.
But we have decided that we will lodge an FIR against this Fortis hospital for medical negligence, he added.
The committee headed by Additional Director General, Dr Rajiv Wadhera submitted its inquiry report on Wednesday recommending review of NABM accreditation given to Fortis Hospital among other actions against the hospital authorities and measures to be taken to keep a check on illegal practices followed by private healthcare institutions.
Giving details of the report, the Health Minister said that the death of the girl, Adya Singh had happened due to not following the lAMA protocol, which is the leave Against Medical Advice.
“The girl was on a ventilator, but she was put in an ordinary ambulance, ventilator was also withdrawn, which became the cause of her death. This is a serious irregularity as IMA protocol says that if a patient is discharged against medical advice, then proper arrangements should be made to transfer him or her to another hospital or the hospital should atleast advice the kin of the patient to do so, said Vij.
He added, “Negligence, lapse, unethical, unlawful acts on the part of the team of doctors of Fortis hospital were found when the patient was shifted from the ICU to the ambulance.”
We will be writing to the Medical Council of India (MCI) demanding action against the hospital, he said.
The committee, which submitted its report, was set up by the Haryana Government on November 21 under the chairmanship of Dr Rajiv Wadhera, Additional DG, Health, Haryana and also comprised of chief medical officer, Gurgaon. Besides, the help of two paediatric surgeons from PGIMS Rohtak and Medical College, Nuh, and district attorney, Gurgaon, as legal expert was also taken, Vij said.
The case relates to the death in September of a 7-year- old girl who was admitted with dengue to the Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), Gurugram a multi super-speciality care hospital.
Following reports of overcharging of bill by Fortis, the Centre had asked the Haryana Government to initiate an urgent inquiry into the case. Fortis Hospital had charged Adya’s family nearly Rs 16 lakh for 15 days when she was admitted for treatment of dengue. Adya was declared dead on September 15.
Earlier, the hospital had refuted the charges, claiming the patient's family was informed about the bill on a daily basis and that there was no medical negligence.