At a tender age, Baby Adrita and Baby Mivaan are already experiencing a harsh reality most infants are spared. Both babies wear oversized glasses, a stark reminder of their compromised vision, which their parents allege was caused by medical negligence at Sharanya Multispeciality Hospital in Bardhaman in West Bengal. The families of these children, devastated and seeking justice, recount the harrowing experiences that have left their children with impaired vision.
Hitesh Choudhary, father of Baby Mivaan, shared the painful details of his son’s birth. “I admitted my wife to Sharanya Multispeciality Hospital around 1:30 am on June 23, 2023, and by morning, she was deemed fit to go home. But repeated delays in her discharge kept us waiting. By evening, the hospital administered an injection that triggered sudden labour, leading to my son Mivaan’s birth at 8:07 pm the very same day,” Hitesh recounted.
“My baby was born premature. Between 8:07 and 8:47, my baby was alone, without any medical supervision,” Hitesh revealed. “When finally taken to the NICU, Mivaan was declared a high-risk baby and kept under observation for 43 days, with mounting NICU charges.” For Hitesh and his family, those days marked only the beginning of a nightmare that continues as they now contend with their son’s vision impairment, a condition they believe could have been avoided with proper care.
During this difficult time, Hitesh encountered another couple, Manoj and Mitali, who were also at the hospital for the birth of their daughter, Baby Adrita. Hitesh, father of Baby Mivaan, recalls a moment when the fellow parent, Manoj Kumar Ghosh, cautioned him about the dangers of neglect at the hospital.
Hitesh recounted how Manoj reached out to him, warning him to insist on an ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) screening for his newborn. “He told me, ‘In my case, the hospital neglected my baby’s ROP treatment; please ensure they don’t do the same to your child.’ When I approached the doctor, he brushed it off, saying I shouldn’t worry,” Hitesh shared. Trusting the hospital’s judgment, Hitesh kept quiet, unaware of the impact these assurances—or lack thereof—would soon have on his son.
