Thiruvananthapuram: The death of a patient a week after bypass surgery at the medical college hospital on Tuesday kicked up a row with his relatives alleging wrong blood transfusion had proved fatal.
Sreekumar, 47, resident of Nemom near here, died at the cardio-thoracic ward. While relatives alleged that the death occurred due to wrong blood transfusion, medical college officials said the patient died of liver problems and severe lung complications.
Authorities maintained that allegations regarding blood transfusion arose because of the wrong IP number given on the request form sent to the blood bank on November 22 for platelets, two days after the surgery. In the first request letter seeking O positive platelet, the IP number was mentioned as 989025 and the required blood component was sent to the ward.
However, authorities claim that before it could be transfused, the MCH staff detected the mistake as Sreekumar’s IP number was in fact 987025 and the blood group “O” negative. Soon “O” positive platelet was returned through the bystanders and “O” negative – was sent to the ward and transfused.
Since the blood transfusion set had already been fixed along with blood bag, the relatives alleged that half of the “O” positive platelet could have been transfused before the detection of mistake, a charge the MCH authorities and blood bank officials rebut.
As relatives insisted on going ahead with their complaint, Health Minister V S Sivakumar ordered an inquiry into the incident. Professors of medicine and pathology have been entrusted with the probe and asked toi submit the report by Wednesday.
The medical college police registered a case in connection with the death. The body was handed over to the relatives after post mortem examination. Sreekumar is survived by his wife and an eight-year-old daughter. Eomjm
