Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court has ordered a clinical audit of patient deaths following open-heart surgeries at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, after an affidavit by hospital authorities revealed that nearly one in three patients did not survive this year.
The HC had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of a series of deaths of patients who had undergone open-heart surgeries at SCB Medical College.
The SCB Medical College and Hospital authorities, in their affidavit, said that the hospital performed 165 open-heart procedures in 2023 with 15 deaths, 135 in 2024 with 24 deaths, and 85 between January and August 2025 with 26 deaths.
“One-third mortality is deeply concerning; reasons must be clinically audited. This is deeply concerning; the causes must be clinically probed and corrective measures taken without delay,” the bench of justices S.K. Sahoo and V. Narasingh ordered, asking the hospital superintendent to produce minutes of any Death Review Board deliberations.
It advised the government to strengthen cardiac rehabilitation, ensure strict post-operative monitoring, and explore the creation of a second surgical team “to reduce burnout and improve outcomes.”
The court noted that only one team currently undertakes all open-heart surgeries at SCB, Odisha’s apex referral centre. “When mortality shows an upward curve, absence of parallel teams exposes systemic fragility,” justice Narasingh said.
{{/usCountry}}The court noted that only one team currently undertakes all open-heart surgeries at SCB, Odisha’s apex referral centre. “When mortality shows an upward curve, absence of parallel teams exposes systemic fragility,” justice Narasingh said.
{{/usCountry}}The two-judge bench said it expects “tangible, time-bound outcomes” and fixed January 2026 as the next review date for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) commissioning.
The bench pressed for deadlines on the long-pending 3-Tesla MRI machine in the Neurosurgery department.
Though supplied in June, cabling, Radio Frequency (RF) shielding, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) alignment remain incomplete.
Head of the Radiodiagnosis department Pooja Mishra told the court that the ₹26-crore scanner should be operational by December and requires precision placement to avoid magnetic interference.
The judges directed the health department to “expedite the installation so patients are not denied advanced imaging any longer.”
The bench fixed January 2026 for a progress review, warning against “indefinite delays that hurt patients.”
The judges underlined that infrastructure upgrades must translate into survival gains. “Mortality review is not a paper exercise—families deserve answers,” Justice Sahoo said, directing the medical superintendent to submit a cause-wise analysis and proposed corrective action.