Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Dean of JJ Hospital to remain present in the court on Wednesday to explain whether regular inspections were conducted at the maternity hospitals in the state to check if they have required permissions and basic facilities.
On April 29, a woman and her newborn died at a maternity home in Bhandup due to the alleged negligence on part of the hospital authorities. Her husband had filed a petition in HC alleging medical negligence in the deaths of his wife and newborn child.
The plea stated that the delivery had taken place at Sushma Swaraj Maternity Home at Bhandup West using flashlights of mobile phones due to a power failure. The newborn died in Bhandup hospital, whereas the woman died shortly after being shifted to Sion hospital.
“We don’t want a repeat of the incident,” said a bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan while asking dean Pallavi Saple to remain present in the court.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed the bench that it had taken action against the doctor concerned who was on duty at the time of the incident. The doctor decided to shift the woman to Sion hospital after there was an electrical problem and the generator was not working. BMC advocate Poornima Kantharia said that he should have consulted senior doctors before shifting her.
The bench questioned how the generator at a hospital be non-functional. It inquired whether regular inspections were conducted of maternity hospitals.
Asking the authorities to look at it from a larger perspective, the bench said it did not want a repeat of the incident. “Not everyone has the capacity to come to court. You just look at it from a wider perspective,” the court said. It then asked the BMC officer concerned to remain present in the court.
National Medical Commission (NMC) advocate Ganesh Gole informed the bench that it had not taken any action against the concerned doctor as it had not received any representation from the family raising a grievance.
The bench, however, remarked that it did not wish to get hypertechnical in the case. “We don’t want to get hyper technical in this case. Lives are precious. Don’t you have the power to take cognisance and take action?” the bench asked. It added that the commission could get “knowledge” about the incident from newspapers too. “If you come across a newsreport something gross is happening in some hospital, don’t you have power to act? You can’t turn a blind eye to the incident,” the bench underlined.
Gole said that the husband’s petition will be treated as a representation and it would take necessary steps.
