Blood transfusion is risky business at Government Medical College and Hospital here. A total 23 cases of discrepancy in blood grouping and nine cases of wrong sampling were recorded at the hospital between January and June this year, says a study carried out by the hospital.
The cases date back to November 2009. The study, presented at a seminar recently, blamed the discrepancies on reasons such as taking of wrong sample in pilot tubes, wrong labeling of samples, wrong marking and, in one case, giving an expired blood bag.
The study highlights the case of Amrik Singh, who was admitted in the intensive care unit of GMCH-32 in February. Singh was transfused B+ blood when his blood group is A+.
The hospital initiated an inquiry into the case and issued a warning to a junior doctor of transfusion medicine.
Dr VK Kaushal, medical superintendent of GMCH-32, said the hospital is trying its best to ensure safe blood transfusion. "That is why such studies are being conducted."
But GMCH-32 is not alone in committing such mistakes. A woman admitted to the Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, to deliver her sixth child on Thursday was given B+ blood - meant for another patient with a similar name - when her group is A+.
{{/usCountry}}But GMCH-32 is not alone in committing such mistakes. A woman admitted to the Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, to deliver her sixth child on Thursday was given B+ blood - meant for another patient with a similar name - when her group is A+.
{{/usCountry}}The mistake killed her baby, while the woman suffered a kidney failure. Chandigarh's Home Secretary Ram Niwas marked a magisterial inquiry in the case.