The Sir Sunderlal Hospital in the Banaras Hindu University has initiated an internal probe after the family of a 65-year-old man suffering from a liver disease and admitted for an hernia operation died allegedly after being administered plasma of the wrong blood group.
Identified as Ramesh Singh, a resident of Mangari in Varanasi, the patient was admitted to the intensive care unit. According to the hospital, he was suffering from liver cirrhosis with portal hypertension and had been under treatment for the last two years.
He recently developed a hernia problem and was operated upon in the hospital in March. After a successful operation, he was shifted to the general ward of the gastro department due to his liver problem, his son Ajay Singh told the media. On March 25 he was shifted to the ICU, his son said.
On April 2, around 12 p.m. the hospital told the family that the patient was fine and in a condition to be shifted back to the gastro general ward for some days, Mr. Singh added.
However, at 6 p.m. a nurse informed him that his father was “misbehaving,” he alleged. When another relative went to find out, they saw his father’s hands and legs were tied to the bed and he was writing in pain. “He was being given plasma while there had been no such demand from our side,” said Mr. Singh.
He further claimed that his father was administered the plasma of blood group A, of another patient on bed no. 13, while his father’s blood group was O.
In a statement, the hospital, one of the most important in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, said it was alleged that at 7 p.m. on April 2, the patient was given 2 units of A+ plasma while his blood group was O+ and transfusion was not required.
At 6 a.m. on April 3, the patient was put on a ventilator “due to poor condition,” the hospital said, adding that he died at 2 a.m. on April 4.
An autopsy would be conducted and the family had agreed to it, the hospital said.
The Medical Superintendent constituted a committee to probe the matter on the complaint of the family and asked it to submit a report within 72 hours.
The hospital said the patient had water in lungs and abdomen, which were tapped regularly with the last procedure being done on April 2 evening.
