A probe team formed by the Nepal Medical Council to investigate into the dispute between former Constituent Assembly member Gayatri Sah and Nepal Mediciti Hospital has submitted its report.

Sah and her husband Rajesh Mahato were arrested on May 5 for abandoning their newborn at the Lalitpur-based hospital after learning that the baby had Down syndrome.

While the couple is facing police investigation, the Nepal Medical Council has launched its own inquiry into the case based on a complaint against Nepal Mediciti Hospital filed by Sah, claiming that the hospital did not inform her about her child’s condition before birth.

“The report has been submitted to the council. It is now up to the council to decide what further steps to take concerning the case,” Dr Dhundi Raj Paudel, of the council’s inquiry team, told the Post.

According to Paudel, Sah and Mahato had gone to the hospital for child delivery. Sah had given birth to the baby through a caesarean section on March 12.

The mother and the child were discharged on April 4.

However, Sah and her husband Mahato left the hospital without their newborn.

After Sah and Mahato abandoned their baby, Nepal Mediciti Hospital had filed a police complaint against the couple.  

Sah and Mahato were arrested under the Clause 184 of Section 12 of the Criminal Code, 2017, which states that an individual cannot abandon an infant, child, a disabled person or an elderly whose wellbeing they are responsible for.