HC directs forms 8-member panel to audit civic-run maternity homes

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday ordered the audit of all civic-run maternity homes within the limits of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and named an eight-member panel of eminent doctors for the exercise. The bench of justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Dr Neela Gokhale directed four teams of two doctors each from the panel to visit maternity homes for a social audit and submit a report to the court within eight weeks.

The court was hearing a plea filed by the husband of a 26-year-old woman who passed away in April 2024 due to complications while delivering a baby at a BMC-run maternity home in Bhandup.

The widower claimed that the maternity home lacked adequate facilities, doctors performed the surgical procedure on his wife under mobile phone torchlight, and he was not provided the medical records of his deceased wife despite multiple requests.

Senior advocate Gayatri Singh and advocate Swaraj Jadhav, appearing for the widower, argued that the maternity facility in Bhandup lacked electricity, adequate staff, and beds and that the power supply snapped several times on the day of the incident.

On Wednesday, Singh and Jadhav suggested six names for the panel, while advocate Purnima H Kantharia, representing the hospital and BMC, suggested another two names. The court named all eight doctors on the panel.

The panel will comprise Dr Kamaxi Bhate, retired professor of community medicine from civic-run KEM Hospital; Dr Padmaja, head of gynaecology at KEM Hospital; Dr Reena Vani Cooper, head of the department and professor at Cooper gynaecology department; Brinelle D’Souza, chairperson of Centre for Health and Mental Health at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS); Sonya Gill, vice-president of Akhil Bhartiya Janwadi Mahila Sanghatana (All India Democratic Women’s Association); and health and women’s rights advocate Sangeeta Rege.

Kantharia submitted before the court that the audit would be conducted as per standard operating procedures under the Labour Room Quality Improvement Initiative of the central government, which aims to reduce preventable maternal and newborn mortality.