Max Hospital's licence cancellation leaves patients in disarray

A day after the Delhi Government cancelled the licence of the Max Hospital in Delhi's Shalimar Bagh, relatives of the patients, who are currently admitted in the hospital, expressed concern regarding further medical treatment here.

While few of the relatives of the patients claimed the hospital had always given them the best treatment for free, others were concerned about the consequences that shutting of the hospital would lead to.

"I have been coming here for the past five months for routine pregnancy tests of my sister-in-law for free. The gynaecologist wasn't able to sense the heartbeats of the foetus so we came for test yesterday, but the OPD was locked. If the child dies, will the Delhi Government take responsibility?" a patient's relative told ANI.

The incident of falsely declaring a newborn dead and giving it away to the parents in a packet by the Max Hospital had earlier created an uproar. This had led to the state government cancelling the licence of the hospital on Friday, through a four-page order.

The father of the children had accused the hospital of deliberately declaring the baby dead and trying to get rid of him after he told the authorities he would not be able to pay Rs 1 lakh per day for their treatment.

India Medical Association (IMA) President KK Aggarwal on Thursday blamed the concerned doctors of committing a gross mistake. They were later terminated from their services by the hospital.