Gurgaon Fortis hospital faces action over dengue death, Rs16 lakh bill

Seven-year-old Adya Singh died at the Guragaon Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) – allegedly due to poor treatment – and her parents were left holding a bill of Rs15,79,322, or over Rs1 lakh per day

A day after Delhi government cancelled the licence of Max Hospital at Shalimar Bagh, Haryana's health minister Anil Vij has written to the state urban authority seeking the cancellation of the land lease of the Fortis hospital in Gurgaon.

The Guragaon Fortis Memorial Research Institute recently made headlines for charging Rs16 lakh for the 15-day dengue treatment of a seven-year-old girl who died.(See: Fortis Hospital slaps Rs16 lakh bill on dead kids' folks; minister vows action)

Adya Singh (7), diagnosed with dengue shock syndrome, was admitted to Gurgaon's Fortis on 31 August with high fever. Over the course of a two-week treatment, she was shifted to the ICU and also incubated, but her condition never improved.

Her father Jayant Singh on Friday made a formal complaint to the Gurugram police seeking registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against the hospital management on various criminal charges.

Jayant Singh said that the hospital kept pumping Adya with drugs, even while the family kept asking doctors to do an MRI or CT scan.

On 14 September, when an MRI was finally performed, the doctors informed the parents that Adya's brain was damaged up to 80 per cent and suggested a 'body plasma transplant'- which would have cost another Rs16 lakh.

The girl succumbed on the same day, with her parents left with a bill of Rs15,79,322 – or more than Rs1 lakh per day.

This includes documentation fee of Rs 250, consultation fee for a dietician of Rs3,000, and an eye specialist's fee of Rs13,200. Two variants of the same medicine were pumped into Adya's body - one cost around Rs3,000 per vial whereas the other was Rs500.

Sugar strips which are otherwise priced at Rs13 per strip were charged at Rs200 in the hospital. Over 1,500 gloves and 660 syringes were also added into the bill.

Even the hospital gown Adya was dressed in was charged at Rs900.

Jayant Singh went to Sushant Lok police station in the evening and gave an 11-page complaint to the police accusing the hospital management, treating doctors and staff of culpable homicide of his daughter.

He also pressed charges of destruction of evidence, forgery and criminal conspiracy against the management, treating doctors and staff.

Station House Officer Inspector Gaurav Phogat said that a preliminary probe would be carried before registration of the case. Besides naming nine treating doctors, Singh also accused the chairman and executive vice-chairman of the hospital in his complaint.

Singh in his complaint has accused a senior consultant (paediatrics and neonatology) of removing the ventilator pipes and ambu-bag attached to his daughter causing her death. He said that his daughter struggled to breathe and died in the ambulance within minutes after removal of the life-sustaining equipment.

He has also accused a senior management member of the FMRI of making him a verbal offer of Rs25 lakh during a meeting at a hotel in Gurugram on the agreement and promise that ''I would remain completely silent about the criminal offences carried out by the treating doctors''.

Singh has also accused the FMRI of forging his and his wife's signature to conceal its negligence in the treatment and prolonging the medical treatment of his daughter, without medical justification, for motives of profit.

In a press statement, the FMRI has denied assertions or allegations of any bribe being offered to Singh.