Max case: DMC disciplinary panel hearing in early March

The disciplinary committee of the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) has decided to hear the Max hospital twin baby case early next month, a senior official said today. The case pertains to a baby boy being wrongly declared dead after his birth on November 30 by the upscale private hospital in Shalimar Bagh. The other twin, a girl, was still-born. The infant boy died a week later at a nursing home in Pitampura. "The case came up for hearing on February 16, but the complainant was not present. So, we have moved the date. We want all parties to be present when the hearing takes place," DMC Registrar Girish Tyagi told PTI. "We have sent the communication to the aggrieved family and most likely the hearing would take place in the first week of March," he said. On January 16, the case was put up before DMC's executive committee and then it was referred to the disciplinary committee. "Last week, representatives from Max Healthcare and, the doctors and nurses involved in the case, came, and a brief meeting was held. But the hearing would only happen when the complainant is also present," Tyagi said. In early January, the Delhi Police had said that it would proceed with its probe into the case only after receiving a reply from the DMC on whether there was medical negligence in the matter. "There have been reminders sent to the DMC to expedite its probe," a senior police official said. The DMC's executive committee has already formed an expert panel comprising paediatricians and gynaecologists that will prepare a report in the matter, the DMC official said. The council has already received replies from the nine doctors and two nurses of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, who were issued notices in December for alleged medical negligence in connection with the case. The medical body had also sought a reply from the Max hospital and they have submitted it. The case was transferred to the Crime Branch on December 6, the day the new-born boy died at the nursing home in Pitampura, after battling for life for a week. An official, privy to the probe, said in the first week of January, 10 people, who were connected with the case were questioned.