The Delhi High Court has asked the National Medical Commission (NMC), the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to look into the post graduate degrees of two senior doctors working as child specialists in a top private hospital in the national capital.
The High Court order came on February 23 after the mother of a victim child filed an application and 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 doctors — Vivek Jain and Akhilesh Singh — are running the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for critically ill newborn babies in Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh.
The Delhi Medical Commission has already exonerated the hospital and held that “no medical negligence could be attributed on the part of the doctors of Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, New Delhi in the treatment of the complainant’s baby “
The hospital has also defended the doctors and said they have unblemished medical records.
“They are highly qualified doctors and there is no problem with their educational qualifications,” a hospital source told PTI, adding that they will also file their replies to the court.
In its application before the court, Sachin Jain and Ajay Kumar Agarwal, who are the advocates for the victim, have alleged that Fortis Hospital had appointed Dr Jain as Director and HOD of Neonatology and that he was practising as a super specialist neonatologist for treating neonates in Intensive Care unit, which he cannot legally do.
Sachin, who also happens to be the father of the victim child, further alleged that the medical education certificates of Dr Jain show that he obtained an MBBS degree in 2004, and thereafter he was admitted to membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (MRCPCH) from the United Kingdom in 2007.
Sachin said he did extensive research and found that these two qualifications were not adequate to practice as a specialist paediatrics.
Regarding the other doctor, Akhilesh Singh, Sapna Jain in her application, alleged that Singh too was operating as Senior Consultant Neonatology Paediatrics/Neonatology at the hospital, handling critically ill newborn babies in Neonatal ICU. However, his medical education certificates show that he obtained MBBS in 1996 and a diploma in child health (Dip CH) from the Indian College of Maternal and Child health (ICMCH), she said.
“ICMCH is not accredited or recognised by MCI/NMC as a postgraduate medical qualification which is required to practice as a specialist (pediatrics), leave alone super specialist (neonatology),” senior lawyer Mohit Mathur told the court while arguing the case for the victim.
Sapna, in her application, has demanded an investigation by the Central Bureau of investigation (CBI) into the matter.
However, a single judge bench of the Delhi High Court headed by Justice Yogesh Khanna on February 23 said that before proceeding further it would be appropriate to seek response from various medical regulatory bodies as well as the accused doctors.
“Response be filed by them within three weeks from today with an advance copy to learned counsel for State, Union of India and the counsel for the petitioner, who shall file their reply within two weeks thereafter,” Justice Khanna said in its order, adding that the matter be listed on April 19.
Sapna’s plight started in August 2017 when her son Devarsh suffered brain injury in the said hospital. The injury became known after several months when the child grew.
She had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in 2019 and alleged that the hospital treated her child for 12 days in ICU and discharged him on the basis of a wrong medical summary saying that he was normal.
She alleged before the court that the doctors concealed the facts as a consequence of which the child remained deprived of any medical treatment and kept suffering infantile spasm/seizures for over seven months at home till his brain got completely damaged.
This has rendered the child permanently disabled, both mentally and physically, she said.
“Today he is suffering from acute epilepsy and cerebral palsy, and is diagnosed with a rare medical condition called the ‘West Syndrome’,” she alleged in her petition in 2019.
An FIR was also lodged in this case in 2019.
During the pendency of these issues, the applicant, in a fresh plea on February 23, alleged that she got hold of the educational certificates of the two doctors recently and they tend to show that they cannot practise as specialist and super specialist as they lack formal training and education for the same.
