Artemis Hospital: DGHS Actions Beneath Scrutiny
On twenty fifth Might 2024, a devastating hearth on the Child Care New Born Hospital in Delhi resulted within the tragic deaths of eight newborns. The fireplace was triggered by the explosion of oxygen cylinders, a preventable catastrophe that unfolded attributable to systemic failures. Our earlier stories pointed to extra than simply the hospital’s rule violations; they implicated the federal government itself for permitting these transgressions to happen unchecked.
Central to this negligence is the function of the Directorate Normal of Well being Companies (DGHS) underneath the Authorities of NCT of Delhi, the first authority overseeing healthcare providers in each authorities and personal hospitals throughout Delhi. Within the case of the eight new born infants who have been burned to loss of life, the DGHS discovered itself underneath scrutiny for allowing the Child Care New Born Hospital to proceed operations regardless of its expired license. Even the license, issued by the DGHS, had allowed the hospital to function solely 5 beds, but the ability was operating far past this capability, in direct violation of rules. The DGHS, which publicly asserts on its web site its obligation to supervise and monitor well being providers supplied by personal nursing houses and hospitals, now faces severe questions on how such lapses have been allowed to happen underneath its watch.
The Directorate Normal of Well being Companies is entrusted with the essential function of monitoring private and non-private hospitals, safeguarding affected person rights, making certain high quality healthcare, and sustaining public belief within the system. However what occurs when the very company accountable for these duties is seen colluding with corrupt practices in personal hospitals? When the DGHS seems to show a blind eye to severe violations, and dismisses the issues of sufferers and their households, who demand accountability, it raises grave issues.
The tragedy the place newborns have been burned to loss of life within the Delhi hospital is not only an remoted incident; it’s a symptom of a deeper drawback. What number of extra such tragedies can we afford earlier than decisive motion is taken?
This story associated to a case in regards to the Artemis Hospital seeks to reveal this crucial query: Is the DGHS siding with negligent hospitals in Delhi or standing by the weak sufferers it’s meant to guard? The problem turns into much more alarming when these failures are documented in official authorities information obtained via RTI, exposing a disturbing sample of negligence and complicity.
Did the DGHS Lie About Artemis Hospital Licence?
This case exemplifies how the Directorate Normal of Well being Companies (DGHS), GNCTD, operates—whether or not it respects the rights of sufferers searching for accountability from personal hospitals or sides with these hospitals that flout the regulation.
The controversy started when Delhi resident Sanjeev Kumar filed an RTI with the DGHS on thirty first October 2023, questioning the licensing standing of Artemis Hospital in New Pals Colony in Delhi. This inquiry was triggered after Kumar obtained an exorbitant invoice for the therapy of his spouse, Shikha Aggarwal, who had been admitted to the hospital on the seventh and eighth of April 2023. Kumar’s petition sought readability on whether or not the hospital possessed a legitimate license from the DGHS throughout his spouse’s therapy interval. He additional demanded to know what actions, if any, had been taken by the DGHS in opposition to the hospital if it was working with out a legitimate license.
On twenty first November 2023, the DGHS responded to Sanjeev Kumar’s RTI petition, however the response has raised severe issues.
Right here’s a abstract of Kumar’s questions and the DGHS’s solutions:
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The Probe has accessed the registration certificates supplied by the DGHS to Sanjeev Kumar, and the findings are deeply troubling. The certificates is dated 1st August 2023, practically 4 months after Kumar’s spouse, Shikha Aggarwal, was admitted to the hospital.
This raises severe questions: Why did the DGHS falsely declare in its RTI response that the hospital had a legitimate license throughout Shikha’s admission? Why did they difficulty a registration certificates dated 1st August 2023, properly after the hospitalisation?
Does this point out that hospital was working with out a legitimate license in April 2023, when Shikha was admitted? The DGHS’s actions counsel an alarming try to guard the hospital, even at the price of deceptive the affected person’s household within the RTI reply.
However the story doesn’t finish right here. What unfolds subsequent is much more regarding.
Dissatisfied with the DGHS’s response, Sanjeev Kumar filed a primary enchantment underneath the RTI Act. The primary appellate authority, in its order dated twentieth December 2023, directed the DGHS to offer a revised reply, additional intensifying scrutiny over the division’s actions.
Following the directive from the primary appellate authority, the DGHS lastly issued a revised response. The DGHS in its response revealed that that they had obtained two letters from Artemis Hospital. The primary letter indicated that the hospital was within the technique of gathering info. The second letter claimed that, as a personal hospital, Artemis didn’t fall underneath the purview of the RTI Act, rendering any requests for info associated to the hospital non-maintainable. The hospital additional argued that underneath Part 6(3) of the RTI Act, a public authority can solely switch an software to a different public authority. Since Artemis shouldn’t be categorised as a public authority underneath the Act, the DGHS couldn’t ahead the RTI request to them.
Nonetheless, this raises important issues. The DGHS actually has the authority to request and confirm whether or not the hospital had the required licenses and documentation to function. Furthermore Part 2 (f) of the RTI Act has provisions for offering info by regulatory public authority by searching for inputs from the involved personal physique.
The knowledge that Sanjeev Kumar sought ought to already be within the possession of the DGHS. But, as an alternative of making certain accountability, the DGHS merely relayed the hospital’s stance that it falls outdoors the RTI Act’s jurisdiction, primarily permitting Artemis to sidestep the difficulty.
However the case takes a fair darker flip from right here. Learn on.
CIC Slams DGHS Over Artemis Hospital Responses
Unhappy with the DGHS’s response, Sanjeev Kumar filed a Second Attraction with the Central Info Fee (CIC), represented by his brother, famend RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal. Agrawal argued earlier than the CIC that the DGHS had supplied false info by claiming that the hospital had a legitimate license throughout Shikha’s hospitalisation, whereas the paperwork proved in any other case. He identified that the license despatched by the DGHS was dated 1st August 2023, whereas Shikha was admitted in April 2023, emphasising that no hospital license could be issued retroactively.
What adopted was an enormous setback for the DGHS. Within the CIC’s order dated thirteenth June 2024, Info Commissioner Vinod Kumar Tiwari criticised the DGHS, stating that its response was contradictory. He condemned the division’s conduct as informal, inflicting pointless obstructions to the RTI applicant’s proper to info and constituting a grave violation of the RTI Act. The CIC issued show-cause notices to the Public Info Officer (PIO) of the DGHS, asking why punitive motion underneath Part 20(1) shouldn’t be taken in opposition to them and why compensation shouldn’t be awarded to the applicant.
In a major transfer, the CIC order additionally highlighted the necessity to deal with Kumar’s request for compensation from the DGHS underneath Part 19(8)(b) of the RTI Act. Kumar was suggested to submit his declare for compensation with supporting paperwork to the Fee, and the DGHS was instructed to reply to Kumar’s claims for compensation inside 4 weeks.
Regardless of the CIC’s robust stance, the DGHS continued to make the affected person’s household run from pillar to put up. As an alternative of acknowledging its errors and holding the hospital and its personal officers accountable, the DGHS responded to the CIC on twelfth July 2024, stating that if the affected person’s household needed compensation, they need to strategy the patron court docket.
The crux of the matter lies in the truth that the RTI applicant, Sanjeev Kumar, sought compensation from the DGHS, GNCTD underneath Part 19(8)(b) of the RTI Act for its improper dealing with of his RTI software. The CIC had emphasised the significance of addressing the compensation difficulty and had instructed Kumar to file a compensation declare. But, regardless of this directive, the DGHS blatantly suggested the RTI applicant to pursue compensation by going to a client court docket, sidestepping its personal duty.
RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, who represented his brother Sanjeev Kumar earlier than the CIC, expressed his frustration to The Probe: “It’s nothing wanting a travesty of justice that the DGHS, GNCTD has not taken motion in opposition to the hospital however is as an alternative asking the affected person’s household to strategy the patron court docket for compensation. This clearly demonstrates that even the Public Info Officer of the DGHS is blind to the provisions of the RTI Act. The DGHS ought to compel the hospital to reply to all inquiries, and if the hospital fails to take action, strict motion must be taken, together with revoking its license. Sadly, we’re witnessing a blatant disregard for the rule of regulation by none apart from the regulatory authority, the DGHS, GNCTD.”
Including to the controversy, the DGHS additionally clarified that till thirty first March 2023, the premises at present occupied by Artemis Hospital have been licensed underneath the identify of Bansal Hospital, with that license expiring on thirty first March 2023. Artemis Hospital solely obtained its license on 1st August 2023. So, the burning query stays: How did Artemis Hospital function with out a license between thirty first March and 1st August 2023? And the way did the DGHS enable this blatant violation to happen?
When eight newborns tragically perished within the Child Care New Born Hospital hearth in Delhi, it emerged that the hospital was working with out a legitimate license from the DGHS. Now, via RTI paperwork, we uncover that one other hospital, a reputed one like Artemis Hospital, additionally functioned with out a legitimate license throughout a sure interval. This revelation begs the query: What number of extra hospitals in Delhi are working with out correct licenses? Is the DGHS, the authority tasked with monitoring these hospitals, really fulfilling its duties? If the DGHS can not even be certain that hospitals possess legitimate licenses—essentially the most elementary requirement—how can we belief that they’re scrutinising the providers these hospitals present, checking for regulation violations, or stopping illicit actions?
Even when this extreme lapse was dropped at the DGHS’s consideration, and regardless of being rebuked by the CIC, the DGHS didn’t take motion in opposition to the hospital. As an alternative, they directed the RTI applicant—the affected person’s husband—to pursue his case in client court docket. What does this point out? Whose pursuits is the DGHS actually defending? The reply appears alarmingly clear.
After the tragic deaths of eight infants in Delhi, one would hope that the system would lastly get up. It’s crucial that the Well being Ministry maintain the pinnacle of the DGHS accountable and provoke an impartial inquiry into the DGHS GNCTD’s licensing and monitoring mechanisms. This investigation also needs to study whether or not there may be collusion between authorities officers and personal hospitals and, if that’s the case, to what extent. This can be a matter of nice public curiosity, and we can not afford to brush it underneath the carpet, ready for one more horrific tragedy to immediate change.
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