Indore-based Care CHL Hospital, a unit of CARE Hospitals, has received a one-calendar-month notice proposing cancellation of its nursing home registration, ETLegalWorld has reviewed a copy of the notice.
The notice dated May 29, 2026, was issued by the Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO), District-Indore, under Section 6(1) of the Madhya Pradesh Nursing Home and Clinical Establishments (Registration and Licensing) Rules, 1997 (as amended in 2021).
The notice follows an inspection ordered by the CMHO office. The authority has cited 11 categories of alleged deficiencies, ranging from fire safety and infrastructure violations to unregistered medical professionals on duty and improper handling of narcotic drugs.
CARE Hospitals, the Blackstone-backed hospital chain, is currently in the process of merging with listed healthcare major Aster DM Healthcare. The merged listed entity will be named Aster DM Quality Care Limited. The merged entity will have a combined portfolio of Aster DM, CARE Hospitals, KIMSHEALTH and Evercare.
The combined entity will have a network of 38 hospitals and 10,150+ beds spread across 27 cities making it one of the top 3 hospital chains in India.
What the Inspection Found
The notice points out alleged non-compliance across many department of the hospital.
“Documents related to the AMC (Annual Maintenance Contract) and CMC (Comprehensive Maintenance Contract) for the STP, WTP, LIFT, and Fire Fighting System were not presented in the office to date, despite verbal requests during the inspection and subsequent phone reminders,” said the notice.
In the Pathology Lab, three technicians named Dipali Ritarekar, Adarsh Gujjar, and Manish Charovne were found to lack Madhya Pradesh Paramedical Council registration. In the Blood Bank, a lab technician’s CMLT registration was found to have lapsed in 2014, rendering them ineligible to work there under applicable rules.
On infrastructure and safety, the main gate of the hospital was found to have been closed off using a plywood sheet, with the Emergency Ward entrance repurposed as the sole entry and exit point for the entire facility. Inspectors noted this arrangement left the hospital with no separate fire exit, and that fire exit directional signage was incorrect as a consequence.
“Due to inadequate space in the OPD, several doctors’ cabins are built very close to each other. The lack of sufficient space causes extreme difficulty for patients and their attendants to move around, which could be dangerous in an emergency. There was no rate list displayed in the OPD department for the information of patients. There is no provision for clean drinking water, a complaint which was reported by patients to the inspection team members,” said the notice.
“Unregistered doctors were found working in the emergency department. A patient’s bed was found blocking the fire exit door. Biomedical waste is not being maintained as per rules. The number of beds exceeded the available space. Toilet facilities are not available in the emergency department. Staff were not in uniform, and no duty roster was presented,” said the notice.
In the pharmacy department no stock register was being maintained, vaccines and antibiotics were stored in the same refrigerator with no temperature chart being maintained, there was no segregated storage for expired medicines, and narcotic drugs were neither kept under double lock nor stored separately.
“More beds than the available space were set up in the Cardiac ICU; the in-charge and staff were unaware of the bed count. Doctors with foreign degrees were on duty in the ICU, but their FMGE pass certificates were not presented. A duty roster for doctors was neither made nor presented. The Neurosurgery ICU was overcrowded, with 12 beds placed in inadequate space. The fire exit was not displayed in the prescribed manner,” said the notice.
“The floor of the Cardiac OT was broken. A cardiac monitor and machine were kept on a wooden box. There were no tiles or antibacterial coating on the OT walls; they were merely painted. Other major OTs had seepage and cracks on the walls. Rust was found on the iron pipes of OT lights and OT tables in various places, posing a constant risk of infection,” the notice added.
Further, the inspection found that an MRI machine at the institution was not registered under PNDT registration number 372, with no sale/purchase permission or installation report from the competent PNDT authority on record. The CMHO has said separate correspondence will be made to the PCPNDT department on this point.
It is standard practice in such notices for the hospital to respond within the notice period, and regulatory cancellation proceedings under Section 6(1) of the MP Nursing Home Rules are not immediate or automatic. The hospital is expected to have the opportunity to file its response and submissions before any order is passed.
ETLegalWorld has reached out to CARE CHL Hospitals and Aster DM Healthcare for comment and will update this story upon receiving a response.
