NCDRC upholds ₹10L compensation for snake-bite victim’s family

NCDRC upholds ₹10 lakh compensation order for negligence in treating a 12-year-old snake-bite victim at MGM Hospital in Navi Mumbai.

MUMBAI: The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has upheld an order of the state commission directing the Mahatma Gandhi Mission (MGM) Hospital in Navi Mumbai and one of its doctors to pay ₹10 lakh compensation to the family of a deceased 12-year-old snake-bite victim on account of negligence in treating the child.

HT Image

The child, named Devanand Landge, was bitten by a snake at around 6.45pm on October 15, 2007, after which his father Parshuram rushed him to MGM Hospital for treatment. But Landge passed away at the hospital after two hours.

Three years later, Parshuram approached the additional district consumer disputes redressal forum in Navi Mumbai, claiming compensation for deficiency in service and negligence in treating his son. He alleged that when he reached the hospital with his son, Dr Sheenu Gupta advised him to take his son to a government hospital, saying he could not afford treatment at their hospital. On his insistence, Dr Gupta gave him a prescription and asked him to buy some costly injections from outside, which was delayed as he did not have enough money; the doctor did not start treatment in the interim, resulting in the death of his son, he alleged.

On January 18, 2017, the district forum rejected his complaint, prompting Parshuram to approach the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, which held the hospital and Dr Gupta liable for deficiency in service and negligence. On March 16, 2020, the commission ordered them to jointly pay ₹10 lakh as compensation to the complainant.

Thereafter, both the hospital and the doctor approached the NCDRC. They challenged the state commission order, contending that it had failed to acknowledge the ulterior motives behind the consumer complaint, filed three years after the incident, suggesting an attempt to extort ransom from the hospital. The petitioners claimed that the hospital and its staff, including Dr Gupta, diligently provided necessary treatment to the deceased without any negligence, which it was confirmed by its own internal inquiry committee. They also claimed that the state commission overlooked the fact that the child was brought to the hospital half an hour after the snake bite and wrongly held that anti-venom treatment was administered to the child 45-minutes late.

The commission, however, refused to accept their arguments. The bench of presiding officer Dr Inter Jit Singh accepted the conclusions drawn by the state commission that anti-venom was administered to the child over 45 minutes after he was brought to the hospital. On Wednesday, the hospital and the doctor were directed to pay the compensation amount of ₹10 lakh to the complainant within 30 days, failing which they will have to pay the amount with interest at the rate of 9% per annum.