Visakhapatnam: The consumer disputes redressal forum, Vizianagaram, has ordered Manipal hospital of Vizag and a doctor there to pay compensation of Rs 3 lakh and another Rs 20,000 as litigation costs for botching up an operation performed on a child, Baby Namrah of Vizianagaram. According to Namrah’s mother U. Raja Rajeswari, Namrah was to be operated on by local doctors in Vizianagaram on January 26, 2014 for a nasal defect. But the doctor there found the child to be seriously ill, and hence referred her to Manipal hospital in Vizag city. The hospital performed the operation on Namrah January 27, 2015 which went wrong causing the child to lose her nasal septum.
Following this, the parents of the girl filed a complaint in the consumer redressal forum against the local hospital and its doctor and Manipal hospital and its doctor and the Indian Medical Academy. Forum president V. Mohan Kumar and its member V.V.L. Narasimha Rao, after consideration the details of the case records, observed that the child’s nasal septum was still intact while she was in the Vizianagaram hospital. But following the operation at Manipal hospital in Vizag, her nasal septum disappeared. This pointed to clear negligence and deficiency of service on the part the doctor at Manipal hospital. The consumer forum pinned the liability on the hospital and its doctors and ordered them to pay compensation. The forum also did not entertain the argument of the doctor in question that expert opinion had not been taken before deciding the case. The forum observed that the general public trusts reputed hospitals for efficient treatment and expects professional care of high quality when they submit themselves at the discretion of doctors. The forum said the compensation would have to be reasonable keeping in mind that the child had suffered deformity in her face and might face difficulties in future in life and marriage.
