Lucknow. The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has taken a serious stand in the case of a newborn not being provided with necessary medical facilities after birth in the Government Autonomous Medical College, Sultanpur and being sent to one hospital after another for treatment.
In the matter, the court has summoned reports from the concerned medical institutions including senior health officials at the state level. WPIL No. 843 of 2026 was heard before a bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjiv Shukla. The petition has been filed in person by advocate Ashutosh Kumar Singh. According to the facts recorded in the court order, the newborn born in Sultanpur Medical College needed a ventilator and other necessary treatment after he developed congenital complications, but neither a ventilator nor the facility of a pediatric surgeon was available in the medical college.
According to the order, the newborn was referred to KGMU Lucknow, where it was revealed that there was no availability of beds with oxygen facility. After this the child was sent to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, but there was no bed available there either. Ultimately the child was referred to SGPGI, where admission could not be done due to non-availability of beds in the concerned department. After this the newborn died within 24 hours.
The High Court asked – how is the system of government hospitals?
The High Court commented that this shows the serious condition of the system of government hospitals. The court specifically said that it has been almost three years since Sultanpur Medical College opened, but it has come to light that not a single ventilator and pediatric surgeon is available there, while deliveries are being conducted in the hospital. The court also expressed concern that there is lack of such essential facilities in other new medical colleges of the state also.
Answer sought from CMO Sultanpur to Principal Secretary Health
The High Court invited the Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary, Medical Health and Family Welfare, Uttar Pradesh, Vice Chancellor of KGMU, Director of Ram Manohar Lohia Institute, Director of SGPGI or the responsible officer/doctor nominated by him and Chief Medical Officer, Sultanpur to participate in the proceedings through video conferencing.
The court has also asked the concerned authorities to study an earlier judgment and matters related to the facilities being provided in medical colleges, so as to clarify whether any effective system has been implemented to ensure essential medical facilities. The Honorable Court strongly reprimanded all the concerned responsible officers and said that despite going to three big medical institutes of the state level and Sultanpur Medical College, the one-day-old newborn died due to lack of proper treatment at the right time. At the same time, a committee should be formed and action should be taken against the hospital and the officer found guilty.
The report will come out in the next hearing
The case is already pending under WPIL No. 8294 of 2016 has been listed for further hearing. According to the order of the High Court, the hearing of the case is to be held on 01 October 2026. This case related to the death of a newborn has raised serious questions on the government health system of the state, especially the availability of ventilators, oxygen beds and specialist doctors in the new medical colleges. Now all eyes are on the next hearing to be held in the High Court and the report of the concerned authorities.