Delhi's Max Hospital case: Won't move, won't relent, says father of baby wrongly declared dead

The family is seeking justice for their baby - who was wrongly declared dead on November 30 by the private facility.
Delhi’s Max Hospital’s licence was cancelled after it wrongly declared a newborn dead | File photo
Delhi’s Max Hospital’s licence was cancelled after it wrongly declared a newborn dead | File photo

NEW DELHI: Braving biting cold conditions, an aggrieved family has camped itself on a dusty pavement right across the Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh area of Delhi.

The family is seeking justice for their baby - who was wrongly declared dead on November 30 by the private facility.

The baby, one of the twins born at the upscale hospital, died during treatment at a nursing home a week later. The other was a still-born.

The Max Hospital's licence was cancelled by the Delhi government following an uproar by the family members and the general public over the grave mistake by the facility.

But the hospital resumed its operations yesterday, after it got relief from an appellate authority, which stayed the Delhi government's order cancelling its licence.

"We'll not move. We'll not relent," said Ashish Kumar, father of the infants.

He and his father Kailash Kumar, 46, along with eight other family members, who include four women, are protesting against the decision of the appellate authority.

Squatting under the open sky, Kailash Kumar said the family is now seeking help from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"An AAP worker from Haiderpur has helped us securing a meeting with the chief minister tomorrow. I, my son Ashish and a senior member of our family will visit his official residence," he said.

The family members last evening picketed the main gate of the hospital, but protested peacefully, hours after they came to know about the stay order.

The Court of Financial Commissioner, on December 19, stayed the cancellation order issued by the Directorate General of Health Services till January 9, when it will hear the matter.

"We were asked by the police to move across the street, so we did. But, now the police authorities are not even allowing us to put up a 'tirpal' over our head," Kailash Kumar said. "They want us to suffer, but we will not give up until we get justice." Earlier in the day, the family demanded a CBI probe into the whole matter to bring the "truth out in the open".

"We knew my wife was pregnant with twins, there was so much excitement. We had bought toys and baby pictures and clothes. It was supposed to be double joy for us, but the world came crashing down on us," Ashish Kumar told PTI.

The family today put up two starched white banners with protest messages in bold red.

"My wife is back at home. She is in a state of shock. We are holding the fort here, even though we have to defecate in the open near drains, and there is filth and mosquitoes, but we will not give up," he said.

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