Image for representation purposes only. File | Photo Credit: Vivek Bendre
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) asking the civic body to respond on the conditions at government hospitals and their facilities.
A Division Bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan was hearing a petition on the death of a pregnant woman and her newborn due to the negligence of the civic-run hospitals.
The 34-year-old petitioner, Khusruddin Ansari is the husband of the deceased Shaheedunissa Ansari who was initially taken to Sushma Swaraj Maternity Home in Bhandup for the birth of her first child. At 11 p.m., a few minutes after the birth, the baby was declared dead on April 29, 2024. Shaheedunissa, whose condition was critical, was then transferred to the Lokmanya Tilak General Hospital in Sion where she was declared dead at 1 p.m. on April 30, 2024.
Extreme distress
On April 29, 2024, Shaheedunissa was brought to Sushma Swaraj Maternity Home in Bhandup at 8.20 a.m. as she was in labour pain but was allotted a labour ward only at 1.30 p.m. on the first floor of the maternity home. At 5.30 p.m. when the petitioner’s mother went to the labour ward to check on Shaheedunissa, she found her in a state of extreme distress due to labour pain. She approached Dr. Sanyal Kadam and Dr. Ritisha Rathod and requested them to perform a caesarean delivery to alleviate her pain, but the doctors assured her of a normal delivery. At 9.30 p.m., the petitioner was told that an episiotomy was done on his wife without the family’s prior consent. The episiotomy had caused substantial bleeding and resulted in blood loss.
Around 10.15 p.m., the petitioner was told that the heartbeat of the foetus was at a mere 40 beats per minute and a caesarean delivery would have to be carried out to save the mother and child. Around 10.30 p.m., Shaheedunissa was shifted to the operating theatre and for that she was made to walk with the support of her family members while she continued to bleed, there were no stretchers or wheelchairs. Shortly after that, there was a power cut. In the absence of power backup, the caesarean section was carried out using the flashlight of mobile phones in the operation theatre, the petition alleges.
Senior advocate Gayatri Singh along with advocates Vijay Hiremath and Swaraj Jadhav appeared for the petitioner and contended in the court, “The State of Maharashtra is obligated to provide public health services and infrastructure under the Constitution of India. The Chief Medical Officer of Sushma Swaraj Maternity Home, Bhandup and the dean of Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, Sion, are responsible for administration. Inspector of the Bhandup police station in whose jurisdiction the hospital is situated has not handed over all the documents of treatment of the deceased. The medical records of the deceased have not been handed over to the family despite repeated requests by the petitioner and both the hospitals are operated by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.”
Taking note of the submissions, Justice Mohite-Dere observed, “What are the conditions in civic hospitals? We think the basic facilities need to be there in each hospital and the same are mandatory. We issue notice to the corporation.”
Disciplinary enquiry
The Bench also noted that the guidelines issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) mandate the hospitals to furnish medical documents within 72 hours of the patient or their family or a legal authority, asking for the same. If a hospital fails to adhere to the MCI guidelines, which are also ordered by the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court, they are liable to disciplinary enquiry, the Bench noted.
“We would want to know what action the MCI will propose to take in this case. We will thus make the MCI a party and the petitioners can serve them a notice too,” the judges said.
Noting the lapses on the police probe, the Bench ordered the zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police to supervise the investigation initiated in this matter by the Bhandup police and ordered the State-run JJ Hospital, which has initiated a parallel enquiry into the matter, to submit its report.
