noida

Updated: Mar 12, 2019 02:57 IST

The family of a newborn boy who died in utero has alleged negligence on the part of the hospital and its doctors and have registered a case at Noida Sector 49 police station.

Ankit Garg, the boy’s father, has alleged that there was negligence on the part of the staff of Cloudnine Hospital in Noida’s Sector 51, in monitoring the condition of the baby while his wife was in labour.

“My wife Shweta Kashyap had been undergoing treatment there since December. Her due date was March 8 and the ultrasound on that day was fine. My wife started getting pains on March 9 around 8pm. We called the consulting doctor, Pratibha Singhal, but she told us to wait. As we live far from the hospital, we decided to leave from home,” Garg, a resident of a high-rise near Pari Chowk, Greater Noida, said.

He said as soon as they got in the car, Shweta’s pains increased. “It was 9.03pm and I called Dr Singhal again. She asked us to reach the emergency room. We reached there by 9.30pm and a nurse monitored the baby, who was doing well. They called the on-call doctor, Riteeka Sharma, who came by 10.10pm. By then, my wife’s water broke. She said a natural delivery will happen by 4-5am. Around 11.30pm, a nurse found a sudden dip in the baby’s heart rate. Sharma was called, but she came at 12.10am and told us that a Caesarean section would be needed,” Garg, a software engineer, said.

He said his wife was shifted to an operation theatre, which was unprepared. “Singhal came by 12.45am and within the next 10 minutes, they told me that my baby boy has died in utero. They delivered him at 1.04am. No one seems to know what went wrong in the span of three hours. Had they been more vigilant, he might have lived,” Garg said.

His wife was discharged from the hospital on Monday and the family filed a complaint with the Noida Sector 49 police station on Sunday. “We have registered a case under Section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and are gathering evidence, which will be sent to the CMO. He will review it and determine whether there was negligence or not,” Vimal Kumar Singh, circle officer 3, said.

A spokesperson for the hospital said, “We empathise with the aggrieved parents. The hospital, in consultation with the most experienced doctors, delivered best medical care to the patient. We have submitted all information to the authorities. However, the patient and their family did not allow the hospital to operate on Monday and mishandled our staff at the premises. The patient has declined to pay the bill...We are reviewing the case with our doctors and medical directors.”