Kochi: The crucial meet of the medical apex body to decide on whether there was any medical negligence in the death of medico Shamna Tasneem was held on Wednesday at the Ernakulam General Hospital. However, the top officials including the Director of Health Services declined to reveal the decision taken at the closed-door meeting saying a report on the formal decision would be submitted to the state government and the Crime Branch which is probing into alleged medical negligence. “A decision has been taken. We’ll file the official report to concerned agencies in a couple of days,” a top health official said while coming out of the meet that lasted over two hours. Crime Branch officers, forensic experts, officials from the medical education department and the director general of prosecution among others attended the meet.
Shamna, a second-year medical student at the Ernakulam Medical College, had died of a severe allergic reaction to ceftriaxone injection on July 18, 2016. A three-member panel which probed into her death found "casual, indifferent dealing if not callousness was palpable at every stage in the care and treatment given to the patient". Later a panel headed by the joint director of medical education (JDME) Dr K. Sreekumari in its report too found failure on taking proper treatment procedures.
Dr Jills George, head of the department of medicine is currently under suspension pending inquiry. When contacted, Shamna’s father K. A. Abootty said: “It will be difficult for the apex medical board to arrive at a conclusion ignoring the earlier two inquiry reports pointing to medical negligence.” “We’re yet to get a formal report from the Medical Apex body. The probe has entered into final stages and will now base on the report,” said Crime Branch DySP K A Sasidharan.
