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Bikaner hosp probes alleged wrong blood transfusion after cancer patient’s condition worsens
The patient, admitted to the Acharya Tulsi cancer wing of Prince Bijay Singh Memorial (PBM) Hospital, was undergoing a blood transfusion on Wednesday evening
Bikaner: A 75-year-old woman suffering from cancer deteriorated after she was allegedly given the wrong blood group during a transfusion at the cancer wing of a government hospital in Rajasthan’s Bikaner on Wednesday.
The patient, admitted to the Acharya Tulsi cancer wing of Prince Bijay Singh Memorial (PBM) Hospital, was undergoing a blood transfusion on Wednesday evening.
The superintendent of PBM Hospital, Dr Surendra Verma, said, “The patient, Bhanwari Devi, was admitted with severe anaemia and a unit of an incompatible blood group was allegedly transfused on Wednesday evening.”
“Her haemoglobin level was at 4.4. Her health deteriorated immediately after the transfusion. However, she is stable now,” Verma said.
The hospital authority formed committees to probe the matter. “A central committee comprising four additional superintendents has been formed to probe the matter. Meanwhile, the Oncology Department and the blood bank authority have also formed two separate committees to investigate the issue,” Verma added.
The report of the primary probe will be sent to the state government.
According to the patient’s family members, she was transfused with B+ blood instead of A+.
“The nursing staff in the cabin asked us to get a unit of blood for her from the blood bank. Soon after we transfused it, she fell sick. We gave her CPR. The nursing staff were watching everything silently. Later, we noticed that the blood unit with B+ blood was transfused to her instead of A+,” a family member of the patient said.
A hospital official, aware of the matter, said that the hospital authority suspects the confusion arose as another patient with the same name was also admitted to the same cabin of the cancer wing.
“It is probable that the nursing staff did not notice the details of the patients. The parties of both patients brought units from the blood bank for their respective patients, but the nursing staff had probably swapped the units by mistake. It will be ascertained after the primary investigation,” the official said.
