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Two doctors suspended after kidney recipient dies
Health minister Veena George ordered an inquiry and said a post-mortem will be done to pinpoint the cause of death. The harvested organ of a brain-dead patient was rushed to the state capital in less than three hours from Kochi which was 200 km away and police and other agencies really toiled to get a green passage to an ambulance carrying it.
The Kerala government on Monday suspended two senior doctors of Thiruvananthapuram medical college hospital after an alleged delay in transplanting a kidney led to a patient’s death.
Health minister Veena George ordered an inquiry and said a post-mortem will be done to pinpoint the cause of death. The harvested organ of a brain-dead patient was rushed to the state capital in less than three hours from Kochi which was 200 km away and police and other agencies really toiled to get a green passage to an ambulance carrying it.
Relatives of the dead patient said people, who brought the organ, were not aware of the hospital’s operation theatre and literally they were forced to make many rounds and when they finally noticed, it was closed. Though the organ was received at 5.30 am the operation was carried out at 9 am and the patient, a 55-year-old man, died after two hours.
The minister admitted that there was utter confusion at the hospital when the organ was reached and there was no co-ordination between departments. “There are serious lapses and the government views them seriously. We have suspended departmental heads of urology and nephrology, pending an investigation,” said the minister.
There are reports that doctors were not informed about the emergency surgery. But the hospital said operation was delayed because the patient had to undergo a dialysis before the procedure. Opposition leader V D Satheesan has sought an inquiry into the “serious lapse”.
