A woman and her newborn tragically lost their lives after a caesarean section (C- Section) was performed under a mobile torchlight due to a power outage at a civic-run hospital in Mumbai. Taking serious note of the incident, the Bombay High Court division bench of Justices constituted a committee to conduct a 'social audit' of all 30 maternity and nursing homes operated by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The court issued the directive after considering submissions by senior advocate Gayatri Singh, who, representing the petitioners, raised concerns over the inadequate medical infrastructure in civic-run maternity hospitals across the city.

"Let the Committee conduct a 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 bench stated.

The court-approved committee includes medical and health experts, as suggested by Singh, to ensure a thorough examination of the existing conditions. The members include Dr. Kamaxi Bhate, retired Professor of Community Medicine at KEM Hospital; Dr. Padmaja, Head of the Gynaecology Department at KEM Hospital; Dr. Reena Vani, Professor at the Gynaecology Department of Cooper Hospital; Brinelle D’Souza, Chairperson of the Centre for Health and Mental Health at TISS; Sonya Gill, Vice-President of the Akhil Bharatiya Janwadi Mahila Sanghatana; and Sangeeta Rege, a prominent health and women’s rights advocate. Additionally, two doctors from government-run JJ Hospital and Nair Hospital will also be part of the committee, as recommended by Government Pleader Poornima Kantharia.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the husband of Shahidunnisa Shaikh, who tragically died after undergoing a C-section at Sushma Swaraj Maternity Hospital in Bhandup. According to the petition, the deceased woman was initially denied a bed upon arrival and made to wait in the ward. On the day of the surgery, the hospital experienced a power outage, and with no functional generator, the doctors resorted to using a mobile torchlight to perform the procedure. Shortly after the delivery, the newborn did not survive, and the mother was found to be "pulseless." Despite her critical condition, she was transferred to the government-run Lokmanya Tilak Hospital (Sion Hospital) in an ambulance that lacked even basic medical facilities.

Further compounding the negligence, the petition alleges that the lift in the hospital was out of order, forcing the medical staff to carry the profusely bleeding woman down the stairs before placing her in the ambulance. Upon arrival at Sion Hospital, she was declared dead.

In an earlier hearing in August 2024, it was pointed out that despite the woman’s death on April 29, 2024, both hospitals failed to provide the medical records to the family, leaving them struggling to obtain case papers for months. During subsequent hearings, an inquiry report prepared by doctors at JJ Hospital confirmed that the hospital lacked electricity on the night of the incident and that the surgery was indeed performed using a mobile torchlight.

However, the BMC, in its defence, maintained that the delivery had already been completed before the power outage and that only a part of the procedure had been conducted under mobile light. As the case progresses, the court’s directive to audit all civic-run maternity homes marks a crucial step in addressing systemic lapses in public healthcare and ensuring accountability for the tragic deaths that have shaken the city.

Case Title: Khusruddin Ansari vs State of Maharashtra

Advocates for the Petitioner: Gayatri Singh, Vijay Hiremath, Swaraj Jadhav.

Advocates for the Respondents: Vitthal Konde-Deshmukh, Poornima Kantharia, Ganesh Gole.