Day after woman gave birth outside Safdarjung, doctors criticise admin notices to 5 medics

A day after a 21-year-old woman gave birth outside south Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, resulting in the hospital taking action against five doctors from the gynaecology department, several resident doctors’ associations have criticised the hospital administration for “pinning the blame on junior doctors” to “escape responsibility”

A day after a 21-year-old woman gave birth outside south Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, resulting in the hospital taking action against five doctors from the gynaecology department, several resident doctors’ associations have criticised the hospital administration for “pinning the blame on junior doctors” to “escape responsibility”.

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Following show cause notices issued to five doctors from the gynaecology department, which included three junior doctors—a third-year postgraduate, a first-year postgraduate and an intern—the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) issued a statement condemning the hospital’s decision to “target young doctors”.

“We condemn the move by professor Geetika Khanna, principal, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (the medical college affiliated to Safdarjung Hospital), for issuing showcause notices to innocent trainees and interns who have come to Safdarjung Hospital to learn medicine. This is a small example of the reality of young doctors in India. Why the unit heads, heads of department and medical superintendent are not held accountable?” the statement read.

On Tuesday, a 21-year-old resident of Uttar Pradesh delivered a baby outside Safdarjung Hospital nearly 12 hours after the doctors allegedly denied her admission. The video of the woman giving birth on the pavement, near a trash can outside the hospital started circulating on social media and pushed the Union health ministry and the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) to issue notices to the hospital and initiate action against the erring doctors.

Notices were issued to five doctors from the gynaecology department, including the head of the department, a professor and three junior doctors. The doctors were given 24-48 hours to submit an official response to the sequence of events spanning Monday-Tuesday, and meanwhile have also been debarred from duties.

Dr Rakesh Bagdi, former president of FAIMA, said that junior doctors were made scapegoats by the hospital administration to quell public outrage over the incident.

“Since the video created a lot of public anger, this action against the resident doctors was a move to save face by the hospital administration. They have put all the blame on the resident doctors and washed their hands off all responsibility,” Dr Bagdi said.

Junior doctors’ associations from hospitals across the country have demanded the withdrawal of action against the doctors.

“...Notices like this making scapegoats of trainees who are at the bottom of the hierarchy is simply demoralising and makes us question the purpose of sleepless hours, blood and sweat that we put behind our patients,” a statement issued by Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, (PGIMER), Chandigarh.

While Safdarjung Hospital did not issue an official response on these statements on Wednesday, a senior doctor of the hospital said, “There are documents to show that the patient was not denied admission and permission for admission was also taken by the patient’s husband. We will wait for the inquiry to be completed.”