The Supreme Court on Friday admitted a writ petition against Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), Gurugram, in Adya’ case wherein the seven year-old girl child lost her life after a two week long treatment for dengue at the hospital, and her family was overcharged with obnoxious mark-ups on drugs and pharmacy.     

The SC issued notice to central government, Haryana government, FMRI, Fortis Healthcare Limited, Gurugram, Medical Council of India, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) and Dr Vikas Verma, senior consultant department of paediatrics, FMRI. The petition was filed by Adya’s father, Jayant Singh.

“Adya was a victim of gross medical negligence at the hands of the FMRI and Dr Verma. The child was suffering from dengue when she was admitted in the paediatric ICU of the above mentioned hospital, where her treatment was needlessly elongated for profiteering and ultimately mismanaged – as was proved by an inquiry committee instituted by the government of Haryana,” Singh said.

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In his petition, Singh has requested the court to direct the central government to set up a new national body that shall exclusively look into complaints of medical negligence and effectively regulate the exponentially rising cases of medical negligence in India.

Singh has urged the apex court to cancel the license of the FMRI and concerned doctors and declare profiteering and differential pricing of drugs as illegal.

The petitioner pleaded to the SC to constitute a court-monitored judicial committee under the Commission of Enquiry Act, 1952, to consider the lacunae highlighted in the petition, and to submit a report within a time-bound manner before the SC.

The petitioner also requested the SC to direct the Fortis hospital to compensate Adya’s family with a sum of Rs10 crore for causing her death and also direct it to setup a fund, in the value of Rs100 crore, for providing free medical services to children belonging to parents of economically weaker sections of the society.