Baby wrongly declared dead by Max Hospital: Delhi Police transfer case to Crime Branch

Two newborn babies were declared dead by Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh but the parents later discovered the boy was alive.

The Delhi Police on Wednesday transferred the case of a premature baby being wrongly declared dead by Max Hospital to its Crime Branch for detailed probe, a senior official said.

Police force deployed at out side the Max hospital, Shalimar Bagh. (PTI Photo)

The baby boy, born on November 30 at Max Hospital, died at a nursing home in Pitampura on Wednesday.

The case involves a detailed investigation of the medical aspects, said a senior police officer.

It entails a long process in which the investigators will have to write to the Delhi government’s health department, the Medical Council of India and the Delhi Medical Council to seek their opinions on certain aspects related to the case, he added.

Subsequently, the case was transferred from the district police to the Crime Branch, which is a specialised unit of the Delhi Police.

A panel formed by the Delhi government to look into the case on Tuesday found Max Hospital guilty of not following prescribed medical norms in dealing with newborn infants.

The parents said they were told by the hospital that both the babies were stillborn. The infants were handed over to them in a polythene bag, they said.

The family discovered that the baby boy was breathing just before the last rites, the police said.

On December 2, Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain said the hospital’s licence could be cancelled if a probe found it guilty of medical negligence.