Two people died after a dentist allegedly carried out hair transplant surgeries despite not having any training or qualifications.
The victims, identified as Vinit Kumar Dubey and Mayank Katiyar, died within 48 hours of their operations allegedly carried out by Dr Anushka Tiwari in Kanpur, India.
Dr Tiwari, who only holds a dental degree, is reported to have marketed herself as a hair transplant specialist on YouTube, according to the Times of India.
Dubey, a resident of Kalyanpur, underwent surgery on 13 March this year and his health rapidly deteriorated soon after. He died on 15 March after being admitted to a private hospital in Sarvodaya Nagar, his wife Jaya Tripathi said in a police complaint lodged earlier this month.
The second victim, Katiyar, died in similar circumstances on 19 November last year, a day after the procedure was performed.
A case of culpable homicide has been registered in both the deaths based on the complaints of the two families. Dr Tiwari surrendered herself before the chief judicial magistrate’s court on Monday, and was sent to 14 days of judicial custody.
"There are serious allegations against Anushka Tiwari,” Dilip Singh, a government lawyer was quoted as saying by NDTV, confirming that she had surrendered before the court. “Anushka Tiwari has performed surgery, which is not related to her field. We have sufficient evidence in this regard. A case has been registered in Kakadev police station.”
In the police complaint, Ms Tripathi said that she received a call on 14 March explaining that her husband’s face had swollen up following the surgery, and despite multiple attempts she was not able to reach the doctor.
“We called again Dr Anushka Tiwari the same night around 11 and she admitted that she performed the surgery without a test," Ms Tripathi told NDTV, adding that she also has the call records.
She got her husband transferred to another hospital where he died the next day on 15 March.
An initial investigation into Dubey’s case by the health authorities revealed significant medical negligence, according to a committee led by the district’s chief medical officer Dr Hari Negi. The probe found that the procedure was performed despite the patient being diabetic and hypertensive, according to the Times of India.
According to the post-mortem report, he suffered from cerebral edema and severe infection from unsterilised equipment, reported the Hindustan Times.
Explaining the delay in the filing of the case, Ms Tripathi claimed that the police did not take the matter seriously and only registered it nearly two months after the incident on 9 May when she filed a complaint with the chief minister’s grievance cell.
"A woman has complained that her husband died during a hair transplant surgery. A preliminary investigation was conducted in which a complaint was lodged against a doctor. Scientific evidence is being collected," a senior police officer, who was not named, told NDTV.
Investigators are now looking into the wider operations of Dr Tiwari’s clinic, according to the Hindustan Times, including the qualifications of other staff members and the standards of medicine followed.
Senior police official Ashutosh Kumar said the force would file for Dr Tiwari to be transferred to police remand as “she needs to be questioned”.
