Surgery under mobile flashlight: Bombay High Court seeks response from NMC, probe committee

A petition has been filed before the Bombay High Court by a man seeking compensation and a thorough probe into the death of his pregnant wife, who died hours after allegedly being operated on under a mobile flashlight at the Sushma Swaraj Maternity Home in Bhandup..The child delivered during the procedure also did not survive. A Bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj K Chavan has sought a response from the National Medical Council (NMC) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run JJ Hospital in the matter.Pertinently, doctors from the JJ Hospital are part of a committee that is currently conducting an inquiry into the deaths of the pregnant woman and her stillborn child.The committee is expected to inform the Court about the time frame within which the enquiry would be concluded. Meanwhile, the NMC has been directed to respond to the alleged violations of several medical ethics regulations. "We would want to know what action to IMC (referring to the National Medical Council which replaced the IMC) will propose to take in this case. We will thus make IMC a party and the petitioners can serve them a notice too," the Court said..The petitioner, Khusruddin Ansari, had raised concerns about not receiving his wife’s medical records despite multiple requests. After the surgery, his wife, Shaheedunissa, had been transferred to Sion Hospital in critical condition, where she later died. Ansari claimed that the hospital lacked adequate facilities and that doctors performed surgical procedures under the mobile torchlight due to a power outage.Ansari, who had married Shaheedunissa in May 2023, sought a thorough and time-bound investigation by the Bhandup police into the deaths of his wife and child. He has also requested compensation for the wrongful loss of their lives. His petition noted that during her pregnancy, it was routinely recorded that both mother and fetus remained healthy.On April 29, Shaheedunissa went into labor and was brought to the Sushma Swaraj Maternity Home at 8:20 AM. However, she was not taken into the operation theatre until 10:30 PM. During this time, the hospital experienced multiple power failures, and there were no inverters or generators available. The baby was delivered but did not cry, and was declared dead shortly after. Shaheedunissa was then transferred to Sion Hospital, where she was declared dead at 1:30 AM.Ansari had requested the medical records from both the Sushma Swaraj Maternity Home and Sion Hospital on May 22, but his requests were repeatedly ignored. The petition highlighted that, according to medical ethics regulations, medical records must be provided within 72 hours of a request..During the court hearing today, the Court questioned why the medical records had not been provided despite Supreme Court orders and regulations. "Why have you not given them the papers? Why have you withheld? There is a judgement; the petitioner should not be required to come to court," the Bench observed.Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Vithal Konde-Deshmukh responded that all papers except those from Sion Hospital had been provided, adding that the investigation was still ongoing at Bhandup Hospital.The Court then inquired about the actions that could be taken if regulations were not followed. Senior Advocate Gayatri Singh stated that non-compliance with these regulations could lead to disciplinary action under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette, and Ethics) Regulations, 2002. Singh also pointed out that the ambulance used to transfer Shaheedunissa from Sushma Swaraj Maternity Home was not properly equipped, and was lacking necessary devices such as pumps to assist with breathing. "She was breathing profusely," Singh stated.Singh further noted that although a committee had been formed by JJ Hospital in May, little progress had been made. However, APP Konde-Deshmukh reported that the committee had recorded at least 36 statements and that action had been taken against the doctor in charge.The Court also questioned what actions the BMC had taken, noting that minimum basic facilities should be required to operate a maternity home. The Corporation is expected to respond to these allegations in the next hearing on August 28.