Faridabad: Anaesthesiologist booked for pregnancy termination

Gurugram: An anaesthesiologist of a private hospital in Faridabad was booked following complaint from the state health department about him allegedly carrying out a pregnancy termination of a nine-week pregnant woman despite not being authorised for it, police said on Saturday, adding the private hospital’s licence was also suspended over the matter.

Officers said the state health department, after discovering the illegal activities at the hospital, has also suspended the hospital’s license granted for authorised medical termination of pregnancy of up to 20 weeks, following an inquiry, and recommended legal action against the anaesthesiologist.

Investigators said the matter came to light during a routine inspection of the hospital, located in NIT-3 locality in Sector 48 on May 1, by a team of Haryana government health department officials comprising Faridabad’s civil surgeon Dr Jayant Ahuja, MTP (a part of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department) nodal officer and deputy civil surgeon Dr AK Yadav and others.

Faridabad police’s public relations officer Yashpal Yadav said that the man carried out the pregnancy termination since the doctor actually authorised for it, had stopped visiting that hospital.

“It was in his absence that the anaesthesiologist at the hospital carried out the pregnancy termination of a woman who was carrying a nine-weeks old foetus on April 30,” the PRO added.

Faridabad deputy civil surgeon AK Yadav, on whose complaint the FIR against the doctor was regsitered at SGM nagar police station on Friday, said the pregnant woman had developed some complication since returning home from some other hospital on April 29.

“She had started bleeding profusely when she was brought to this hospital in Sector 48 (on April 30), and the anaesthesiologist terminated her pregnancy allegedly to save her life as her blood pressure had dropped drastically and the foetus had come out,” he said.

Yadav said the patient was discharged the very next morning (May 1) and all the lapses were established from the hospital records during their inquiry which was taken up when the matter came to light.

“Following this, the MTP license of the hospital was suspected as its replies and clarifications to the health department notices were found to be dissatisfactory. We lodged a complaint on the basis of which an FIR against the doctor was registered under sections 3 and 4 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971,” he said, adding that it is further being inquired if any such termination was also carried out in the past at the hospital.