Allahabad HC stays UP govt's suspension Sanjay Gandhi hospital's licence

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Wednesday stayed the Uttar Pradesh government's order suspending the licence of Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Amethi over the death of a 22-year-old woman after a surgery.

A division bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manish Kumar said that inquiry against the hospital would go on, and asked the state government to file its counter-affidavit.

The court passed the order on a writ petition filed by the hospital's chief operating officer Avadhesh Sharma against the government's order.

Appearing for the petitioner, senior counsel J N Mathur argued that the suspension order was not sustainable as it was passed "due to political reasons".

The state government contended that the hospital had no licence to conduct surgeries but it was doing so and hence the incident, in which a woman died after a minor surgery, took place.

”The licence has rightly been suspended and the inquiry is going on before passing the final order,” state counsel Rahul Shukla said. 

On September 18, the health department suspended the licence of Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Munshiganj area of Amethi and halted OPD and emergency services, days after the death of a woman patient following an operation.

The hospital is run by Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Trust headed by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

Manoj Muttu, administrator of the trust, told PTI that a copy of the court's order will be submitted to the chief medical officer of Amethi and as per the CMO's directions functioning of the hospital will resume.

However, Muttu said he would like the hospital to resume functioning from Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the BJP's Amethi district unit demanded that the management of the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Trust be handed over to Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi, BJP MPs from Sultanpur and Pilibhit, respectively.

In a memorandum addressed to the UP governor, the BJP has also demanded that free treatment be provided at the hospital.

"The Sanjay Gandhi Hospital is constructed on the land given on lease by the state government. The conditions of the lease were not adhered to and the hospital continued to be run in a disorganised manner. Hence, the government should hand over the management of Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Trust to BJP leader Maneka Gandhi, widow of Sanjay Gandhi, and her son and BJP MP from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi," the memorandum said.

"Else, the government should take over the hospital and hand over its management to Lucknow-based Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI)," it added.

The memorandum was handed over to the district magistrate of Amethi by BJP's district unit chief Ram Prasad Mishra.

On September 27, over 400 employees of the hospital sat on a dharna against the suspension of its licence.

A political controversy erupted over the issue after local Congress leaders also staged a protest outside the CMO's office.

Union Minister and MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani, had attacked the Congress over the suspension of hospital's licence, saying instead of supporting the deceased woman's family, the party was "crying over loss of its profits".

The woman patient, Divya, who was admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital on September 14, went into a coma during a surgery. Her family members alleged that she was kept at the hospital for more than 30 hours before being referred to Lucknow where she died on September 16.

The next day, an FIR of causing death by negligence was registered against four employees of the hospital, including its chief executive officer.