7-yr-old’s death: Gurgaon Fortis doctor booked

GURGAON: A case of culpable homicide was filed against a doctor of Gurgaon’s Fortis Hospital on Saturday on the complaint of the Haryana health department. The hospital is accused of medical negligence leading to the death of a seven-year-old girl due to dengue and overcharging her family in September.

The case was filed at the Sushant Lok police station against a doctor with the paediatric department under Section 304 part 2 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC that carries a maximum punishment of 10 years.

“We have submitted our findings of the inquiry that we conducted last month on November 23 to the police which states that the hospital had overcharged the family of the deceased,” said BK Rajora, chief medical officer, civil hospital, Gurgaon.

The complaint was submitted to the police on Saturday and the case was registered on Sunday, the police said. “We received a 49-page complaint against the hospital by the health department,” said inspector Gaurav Phoghat.

The matter came to light in mid-november after a family friend of the patient posted on social media images of the itemised bills of over ₹16 lakh. The 20-page bill included charges for 660 syringes and 2,700 gloves, and triggered outrage among people that the family was overcharged.

On Friday evening, Jayant Singh, father of the patient Adya, filed a complaint with Gurgaon police alleging that his daughter died because of the ‘negligence’ by the doctors and the hospital tried to ‘destroy evidence’ of the wrongdoing. On Thursday, Haryana health minister Anil Vij ordered Fortis Hospital, Gurgaon, be removed from the list of government empanelled hospitals due to the case.

He has also asked the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to look into the possibility of cancelling the hospital’s land lease.