Three on dialysis die after Puducherry hospital power failure
PUDUCHERRY : In a shocking case of medical negligence, all three patients who were undergoing hemodialysis at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute here died shortly after power failure.
The victims were identified as Sushila (75) from Kadirgamam, Amsa (58) from Veeman Nagar and Ganeshan (55) from Gandhithirunallur in Puducherry. While Sushila and Amsa died about 20 minutes after the power went off, Ganeshan was shifted to the ICU, where he died a few minutes later.
While Dr A Bupathy, Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, who is the Acting Medical Superintendent of the hospital, rejected the charge of medical negligence, the fact remains that the hospital does not have a nephrologist.
Neither does it have a specific duty doctor in charge of the dialysis unit. In fact, two nurses and four dialysis technicians, who are interns, manage the dialysis unit. The Assistance Professor of Medicine is the overall in charge of medicine and dialysis wards.
While the patients were admitted around 8 am for dialysis, power failure happened around 10.15 am after which their condition rapidly deteriorated, said Dr Bupathy. The intern dialysis technicians on duty informed the Assistant Professor of Medicine following which a team of doctors tried in vain to revive the patients.
Health minister Malladi Krishna Rao placed six persons under suspension, including the Assistant Professor of Medicine, four nurses and technicians.
He also announced the setting up of a three-member probe panel. A compensation of Rs 5 lakh each would be given to the next of kin of the victims. The bodies were sent to JIPMER for postmortem. There is speculation that the deaths could have been due to eletro-mechanical fault in the machine.