The Times of India
23 July 2010
Chandigarh, India
Waking up to the nightmarish experience that people have to go through for completing hospital formalities, UT has decided to exempt critically ill patients from paperwork.
This follows the delivery of a reportedly stillborn baby in Government Multispecialty Hospital (GMH), Sector 16, on Wednesday, while the mother was standing in queue for getting an out–patient department card made.
Home secretary Ram Niwas said authorities of GMH–16 and Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, had been directed to make changes in their rule books to make sure patients in serious condition were immediately admitted in the department concerned or emergency ward and paperwork was left for later.
Further, director principal of GMCH and medical superintendent of GMH would be held personally liable in cases of patients suffering due to official formalities.
Sources further said that the inquiry report into the incident was likely to be submitted in two days and hospital authorities would take the help of closed circuit television cameras to find out what actually transpired leading up to the baby’s death.
Meanwhile, a special panel of doctors on Thursday conducted the postmortem of the body and handed it over it to family members. UT cops have recorded the statements of victim’s family and rule out the possibility of registration of any criminal case in this regard.
Additional SHO of Sector–17 police station inspector Gurjeet Kaur said that though the father of the baby, Chottu Ram, and his relatives had levelled allegations of negligence on the part of GMH–16 authorities, no criminal offence had been made out till now.
She stated they would be looking at the CCTV footage to check the sequence of events that led to the baby’s birth while the mother was standing in queue.
The family members of the woman have accused health authorities of gross negligence which caused the death of infant. Police have initiated an inquest under Section 174 Criminal Procedure Code in this regard.