The licence of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, has been cancelled with immediate effect after doctors wrongly declared a newborn baby dead, Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain said on Friday.

“The hospital has been found to be negligent and the government has decided to cancel its licence. All the patients currently admitted at the hospital will receive complete treatment, however, no new admissions will be allowed,” said Jain.

It means that the hospital will have to close all its operations including the out-patient services and emergency services where new patients come in with immediate effect.

“The negligence in the newborn death case was unacceptable. Also, the hospital has been a habitual offender,” Jain said at a press conference.

Max hospital, Shalimar Bagh, has previously received notices from the government for not earmarking beds for the patients belonging to the economically weaker sections as per conditions set by the government for providing hospitals subsidised lands.

After declaring dead newborn who was alive, Delhi’s Max hospital sacks 2 docs.

"Usually, during the period when dengue cases are at its peak, hospitals are given permissions to increase their bed strength by 10 - 20% to treat fever patients. It was found that the hospital in Shalimar Bagh had been running these beds even after the period for which the additional beds were allowed and for treating people other than fever patients,” said Nagendar Sharma, the government spokesperson.

Twins a boy and a girl were declared dead by doctors at Max Hospital but the parents later discovered the boy was alive. The infants were handed over to them in a polythene bag, the parents said.

The baby boy, who was born prematurely on November 30, died a week later in a clinic in Pitampura where he was being treated after his parents found him alive while taking the “body” for final rites.

A Delhi government probe panel had on Tuesday found the Max hospital guilty of negligence in declaring the child, a twin, dead. His sister was stillborn.

After the death of the child, the police investigation into the alleged medical negligence was transferred from North West district police to Crime Branch.