Indore hospital license suspended after relatives of four patients allege negligence

Residents of the town of Vallabh Nagar are examined by a team of doctors following the coronavirus pandemic in Bhopal on Friday May 1, 2020. (PTI photo) (PTI01-05-2020_000239B)

Indore district administration temporarily suspended the license of Gokuldas Hospital, a private hospital in the largest city of Madhya Pradesh, on Friday after the deaths of four patients on Thursday, followed by complaints from family members that the hospital was negligent. .

The administration took action after a video made by relatives of the deceased went viral. In the videos, family members alleged that the hospital was in a hurry to go from the yellow category (suspects are treated) to the green category (non-COVID center) and did not pay attention to the patients admitted there.

A team of doctors, led by Indore chief physician and physician Dr. Praveen Jadia, visited the hospital and collected treatment documents from the dead patients. Dr. Jadia said Friday that while the hospital license has been terminated, only an investigation will establish whether he was guilty of negligence and appropriate measures will be taken. He said the first death took place around 11:30 on Thursday and the rest of the night.

When asked about complaints from relatives of other patients who had been rejected by the hospital administration, Dr. Jadia said the team was investigating him. He said the Mandsaur District Collector had also written a letter to the Indore administration based on a complaint that the hospital had refused to treat a Mandsaur patient who later died.

Denying the allegations about Thursday’s deaths, the hospital’s Dr. Sanjay Gokuldas said the hospital was being falsely accused of negligence. He said that the four patients of 55, 64, 74 and 78 were suffering from critical illnesses and that their health updates were regularly sent to the health control room and the nodal officer.

Referring to the accusation that in its rush to become a green category, the hospital was discharging patients early, Dr. Gokuldas claimed that the decision to discharge patients was made by a team designated by the district administration, not the hospital. He said disinfecting the hospital was a routine procedure and denied the accusation that the deaths occurred in half an hour. He said that the relatives of the patients owe amounts ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3.25 lakh.

In the video, family members alleged that the patients’ condition was stable, but they died suddenly because the hospital wanted to discharge them early so that they would soon turn green. “We are giving money but we are receiving corpses,” said a relative.

Another said the hospital should have allowed them to transfer patients to another hospital where they could have saved their lives.

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