Delhi HC seeks medical regulators response on plea alleging doctors 'unqualified'

The Delhi High Court has sought response of the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) on a petition seeking Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the allegations that two doctors were being allowed to serve at Fortis Hospital without the required qualification.

Dealing with a petition of a mother on behalf of five-year-old Devarsh, a bench of Justice Yogesh Khanna also sought response from the two doctors, Vivek Jain and Akhilesh Singh working as specialists/super-specialists and listed the matter for the next hearing on April 19.

It is alleged that the child suffered brain damage during his birth at Fortis on August 12, 2017.

The court was informed that the child was initially declared unwell by the hospital right after the delivery through C-section and then shifted by the hospital to neonatal ICU under the care and supervision of the above-mentioned doctors.

The baby was discharged by the doctors post intensive care for 12 days, according to the plea.

"However, 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 plea said.

It was submitted that the petitioner only recently got to know that Jain and Singh do not hold the requisite qualification and are not entitled to practice as either neonatologists or paediatricians.

"It was further discovered that, even today they are practising as neonatologist and paediatricians at Fortis Hospital in full-fledged control of the neonatal ICU, thereby putting lives of critically sick new born babies to imminent danger," the plea said.

In order to hide the baby's injury from the parents, it was further alleged that the hospital, with a motive to evade its responsibility, prepared false medical records of the child.

"As a consequence, the child remained deprived of any medical treatment and kept suffering infantile spasm/seizures for over 7 months at home till his brain got completely damaged. The same has rendered the child permanently disabled, both mentally and physically.

"Today he is suffering from acute Epilepsy and Cerebral Palsy and is diagnosed with a rare medical condition called the 'West Syndrome'," the plea said.