Registration of Delhi hospital cancelled due to reports of medical negligence
Nov 17,2023
New Delhi: Delhi Medical Council had cancelled the registration of Dr Neeraj Agarwal, owner of Agarwal Medical Centre in Greater Kailash I, on three separate occasions following complaints of medical negligence. Agarwal, who was arrested by police on Wednesday, had also been fined by DMC, officials said on Thursday.
Dr. Arun Gupta, president, DMC, confirmed that six complaints had been filed against the medical centre for alleged negligence during surgeries and in four instances, penalties had been imposed. Gupta explained, "Upon receiving a complaint, the council summons the hospital administration and the operating doctors and initiates an investigation to look into the complaint."
In one of the cases, DMC had confirmed the punishment of Agarwal by removing his name from the State Medical Register for a period of 90 days. The council had taken this decision after receiving a complaint in which a woman had died allegedly due to medical negligence during treatment at Agarwal Medical Centre. In another case, Agarwal was deregistered for 30 days in connection with issuance of a medical certificate.
According to DMC, the offending medical practitioner has challenged the council's orders before the Indian Medical Council. "The cops have told us that six complaints have also been filed against the hospital. They will forward these to us now," said Gupta.
Police on Wednesday said that they had arrested Agarwal, his wife Pooja, lab technician Mahender Singh and a surgeon named Dr Jaspreet Singh. The cops suspect that Agarwal and others are likely to have swindled around Rs 80 crore from patients in the last few years by offering them surgeries at incredibly low prices.
The cops are in the process of obtaining the bank statements and other related documents to determine the money trail. As of now, they have recovered cheque books of 47 different banks, 54 ATM cards, passbooks of different post offices and six point of sale credit card machines. They have also seized two registers containing details of patients and over 400 prescription slips. The exact number of patients admitted to the hospital in the last five years is also being ascertained, a police officer said.
Sources said the initial probe suggests that the offending centre accused offered package deals to the kin of patients by showing them comparative surgery costs at other private hospitals. Agarwal had people who contacted patients and their relatives claiming to be hospital representatives and took them to the GK1 medical centre. The cops alleged that these men roamed around other government and private hospitals scouting for vulnerable families that needed surgeries to be carried out without much waiting and at affordable costs.
Source: HealthWorld