Medical negligence: WB health regulatory body shuts Globecare Diagnostic Centre

New Delhi: In two separate incidents, the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Wednesday directed Hooghly’s Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMoH) to immediately shut down Globecare Diagnostic Centre and Polyclinic and asked Megacity Nursing Home authorities to pay a fine of Rs 2 lakh to the relatives of a patient within 15 days after the commission found glaring medical negligence by both the private health establishments.

The WBCERC chairperson Justice (retired) Ashim Banerjee said that a patient, Sanjay Sadhuka admitted his pregnant wife, a 31 year-old woman, to Megacity Nursing Home in 2019 for delivery. After giving birth to a girl child, the woman started complaining about pain at around 1 pm. The nursing home authorities told the commission that they had informed the doctor but he did not turn up to the hospital. As the patient’s condition turned critical, the woman was put in the ICU at around 5 pm. The patient eventually died at 5.35 pm on the same day.

Banerjee said that the nursing home authorities should have given adequate medical management. After the West Bengal Medical Council started a probe by an expert following a complaint by the family members against the doctor, the probing team found shocking infrastructure. The medical council appointed experts termed the nursing home as a “human slaughter house”. The state medical council eventually suspended the doctor’s license for 2 years. The accused doctor appealed to Swasthya Bhawan for reconsidering which was also dismissed. The doctor filed a writ petition in the Calcutta High Court. The WBCERC said that they will again hear the case after the case is heard by the Calcutta High Court.