Bombay High Court Orders 'Social Audit' Of Civic-Run Maternity Homes After Woman's C-Section Was Done Under Mobile Torchlight

Months after a woman and her just delivered child died because the doctors at a civic nursing home in Mumbai performed the caesarean with a mobile torchlight, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday constituted a committee to conduct a 'social audit' of all the 30 maternity and nursing homes run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Dr Neela Gokhale ordered the constitution of the committee after it considered the submissions of senior advocate Gayatri Singh, who while appearing for the petitioners in the case, raised concerns over the lack of amenities in civic-run maternity homes across Mumbai. "Let the Committee conduct social audit of all the 30 maternity and nursing homes across Mumbai. The Committee to complete the audit within a period of eight weeks and thereafter, submit its report before this court," the judges said. The members of this committee, as suggested by Singh are:Dr. Kamaxi Bhate, retired Professor of Community Medicine from KEM Hospital, Mumbai.Dr. Padmaja, Head of Gynaecology Department at KEM Hospital, Mumbai.Dr. Reena Vani, Professor at Gynaecology Department, Cooper Hospital, Mumbai.Brinelle D'Souza, Chairperson, Centre for Health and Mental Health, TISS, Mumbai.Sonya Gill, Vice-President of Akhil Bharatiya Janwadi Mahila Sanghatana (All India Democratic Women's Association) Sangeeta Rege, Health and Women's Rights Advocate.Besides these names, the committee will also comprise two doctors from the government-run JJ Hospital and Nair Hospital in Mumbai, as suggested by Government Pleader Poornima Kantharia. The judges were hearing a plea filed by the husband of Shahidunnisa Shaikh, who died after a C-section delivery in the civic-run Sushma Swaraj Maternity Hospital in Mumbai's Bhandup. Her husband alleged that the wife's C-section was performed using a mobile torchlight as the electricity connection in the hospital on the relevant day was down.According to the petition, the deceased woman, when taken to the Sushma Swaraj Maternity Hospital, was not given a bed and was made to wait in the ward. It is alleged that the doctors operated on her with the help of a mobile torch light as there was no electricity and no generator facility available. Soon after the delivery, her child died and even the deceased was found to be "pulseless" yet she was transferred to the government-run Lokmanya Tilak Hospital (Sion Hospital) at midnight in an ambulance which had no basic facilities.The petition further stated that the lift in the hospital wasn't working and the deceased was brought down to the ambulance via stairs while she was "profusely" bleeding. Soon after reaching Sion Hospital, the deceased was declared dead.In a hearing in August 2024, Singh pointed out that both hospitals did not furnish the medical records of the deceased despite her dying on April 29, 2024, and the family ran from pillar to post to get the case papers. Since then, the matter has been heard from time to time and in a recent hearing an enquiry report prepared by doctors at the JJ hospital, stated that the hospital did not have an electricity supply on the relevant day and indeed the procedure was performed under mobile torchlight. However, the BMC has maintained that the entire delivery procedure was done and only after that, the electricity went off and only some procedure was performed under the mobile light.Appearance:Senior Advocate Gayatri Singh along with Advocates Vijay Hiremath and Swaraj Jadhav appeared for the Petitioner.Additional Public Prosecutor Vitthal Konde-Deshmukh represented the State.Government Pleader Poornima Kantharia represented the BMC.Advocate Ganesh Gole represented the National Medical Commission. Case Title: Khusruddin Ansari vs State of Maharashtra (WP(ST)/16488/2024)

Bombay High Court Orders 'Social Audit' Of Civic-Run Maternity Homes After Woman's C-Section Was Done Under Mobile Torchlight

Narsi Benwal

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