A day after Health Minister Veena George suspended two senior doctors of Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Thiruvananthapuram, for alleged delay and lack of coordination in the run-up to a renal transplant surgery, which had a tragic outcome, the medical fraternity is up in arms against the manner in which the doctors were suspended even before a detailed inquiry was conducted to ascertain the facts of the incident.
A harvested kidney, which is well preserved can be transplanted even up to 24 hours or more, and the perceived “delay” occurred because the patient who had multiple comorbidities had been undergoing dialysis, as is done in the case of all renal transplants when the organ arrived, the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association (KGMCTA) said.
Scientific inquiry sought
The KGMCTA demanded that a scientific inquiry be conducted into the incident and that the government withdraw the suspension of the senior doctors.
Meanwhile, the preliminary report of the Additional Chief Secretary (Health), on the basis of which the doctors were suspended, pinpointed some system errors. The Head of Urology had not seen the transplant recipient. The Head of Nephrology, who was away on official duties, had not left a leave letter or assigned his charge to the next senior person, who also had not seen the patient.
The fact that there was none to “receive” the organ when it arrived and that it was “outsiders” who ran into the hospital grabbing the box, has been perceived by the government as a major negligence and evidence of lack of coordination between the departments.
However, transplant medicine experts are anguished how these mere technicalities are being used to demoralise a professional workforce, when no harm was done to the patient. “These are mere technicalities and in no way affected patient care. The idea that an organ has to be received with much fanfare is an impression that has unfortunately taken roots here because of the media hype and political mileage that surround this event. Two doctors who accompanied the organ were expected to take it to the theatre. Collecting and delivering an organ preserved in an ice box is a routine activity in all developed nations,” a transplant expert added.
Unplanned event
“Deceased organ donation is an unplanned event, and the MCH does not have a well-oiled machinery or plenty of personnel to carry out the innumerable hurdles that have to be surmounted for the transplant to take place. Yet, within all limitations, the MCH here has done 104 renal transplants (deceased donor), more than any other hospital,” a senior MCH doctor said.
Meanwhile, the MCH authorities have now filed a police complaint that “outsiders” had handled the organ when it arrived.
