Apollo asked to submit report on baby's treatment

The family members of the four-month-old girl who died of alleged medical negligence at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital on Wednesday morning, lodged separate complaints with the state Health department and also with the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) that has already started functioning from its office on BBD Bag.

The WBCERC has asked the private hospital authorities to submit a report on the patient's treatment within 72 hours. Her family members also lodged a written complaint at Swasthya Bhavan. After getting all the documents related to the treatment of the infant, the commission will examine them. It will determine if there was any negligence in the treatment of the patient or not. The victim's family members went to the commission's office on Thursday afternoon.

Apollo CEO Rana Dasgupta on Thursday visited Swasthya Bhavan and met some of the senior officials of the state Health department. It was learnt that senior officials of the Health department wanted to know about the recent incident of medical negligence. The family members of the infant threatened to pursue legal suit against the hospital authorities.

They alleged that the doctors who treated the patient had been told that the baby was kept in empty stomach for a long time and she would not be able to take anesthetic drug. But they did not pay any heed to them and the doctors went ahead and administered the anesthetic drug that eventually led to the death of the victim. They demanded stern action against those who were responsible for her death.

It may be mentioned that the private hospital authorities formed a three-member committee to probe the alleged negligence. The hospital authorities have, however, claimed that there was apparently no medical negligence and the infant had died following two cardiac arrests.