WBCERC slaps Rs30 lakh fine on Apollo Gleneagles

The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) set up by the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to fix the accountability of the private hospitals in the state on Friday passed its first judgment. WBCERC imposed a Rs 30 lakh fine on the Apollo Gleneagles Hospital in Kolkata for negligence resulting in the death of Kuheli Chakraborty.

The WBCERC has also directed the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) to take steps against the three doctors involved in her treatment who were already found guilty by the commission. The WBCERC during the investigation found that there was negligence on the part of these three doctors ~ Dr Mahesh Goenka, Dr Vaishali Roy Srivastava and Dr Sanjay Mahabar. The WBMC is the competent authority to take steps against erring doctors.

The commission instructed the hospital authorities to pay Rs 10 lakh to the family members of the victim within one week while the rest amount must be paid within three weeks. If the hospital authorities failed to provide the amount within the stipulated time they would be liable to bear 9 per cent interest.

Kuheli, who was admitted to the city's Apollo Gleneagles Hospital in April this year for a colonoscopy, allegedly died of an anaesthetic overdose. According to Kuheli's father, Abhijit Chakraborty she was left unattended for a whole day when she was admitted and was not given any food for more than 12 hours prior to the test.

Following her death, the hospital authorities refuted the allegations of negligence claiming the baby suffered "cardiac arrest in the recovery room".

After Friday's order, Apollo Gleneagles CEO, Rana Dasgupta said, "We respect the commission but we cannot accept the decision. We will appeal to the appropriate authority against the decision. This type of decision will make the doctor fraternity confused and they will be scared to take up clinical challenges."