Mumbai: Probe ordered in death of St George’s Hospital staffer

St George Hospital authorities have said all due process was followed. Pic/Ashish Raje

The state-run St George's Hospital has been at the centre of a controversy following the death of one of its employees. The deceased's family has alleged medical negligence against two senior residents and one Chief Medical Officer of St George's Hospital. On Thursday, a three-member committee was appointed to investigate any possible lapses between 5.54 pm and 8.50 pm on Wednesday, the time the patient arrived at the hospital to the point he was pronounced dead.

The committee was set up on orders of medical education minister Hassan Mushrif. "There are three heads of department from J J hospital who will be heading it [committee]. This will include Dr Ajay Bhandarwar from the surgery department, Dr Vidya Nagar from the medicine department and Dr Bhalachandra Chiklakar from the forensic science department," said Dr Vinayak Sawardekar, medical superintendent of the hospital,

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There are two versions of the story that this committee will investigate. One is that of the relatives, who allege their kin died due to shortage of senior doctors and was attended by juniors till the very end. "My son was left unattended by senior doctors for two to three hours," said Kailash Chauhan, father of 32-year-old Anish Chauhan. He was taken to the hospital after suffering grievous head injuries and died just as he was about to be treated after suffering a seizure. Another version that the committee will look into is that of the hospital's, which is firm on its stand that two senior resident doctors were present till the end.

The big question raised by the family was: why was the medical officer absent at the time of the ordeal? "The CMO was in a post-mortem when the patient had arrived," said Dr Ganesh Bhandare, resident medical officer. When asked if the outcome would have been different if CMO was present while the patient was being attended to, he said, "It is difficult to answer but we are certain that the process was followed," added Dr Bhandare. He was not clear if the CMO was present any time between the time the patient arrived at the hospital to the time he passed away. However, Dr Sawardekar said, "The CMO was not there for 15 minutes but she was present by 6.15 pm."

While the hospital claims the patient was inebriated at the time of treatment, the family has denied it. "He used to drink but on that day we know that he was not under the influence of alcohol," said Chauhan.

Timeline

"The patient entered the gate at 5.54 pm, he entered the casualty at 5.58 pm. The basic treatment started immediately where his history was taken, which took about 10 to 15 min. At 6.18 pm the patient was attended by senior surgery residents, who again examined him and took the history till 6.35 pm after which they asked him to get admitted but he refused," said Dr Bhandare.

Detailing the timeline further, he added, "Soon after that, he was then sent for X-Ray with a ward attendant and the process took about seven to eight minutes. The patient did not hand over the X-Ray to the doctor in the casualty and went to minor OT for sutures. It took the doctor about 10 to 15 min to realise that the patient had not come back with his X-ray reports," Dr Bhandare said.

He claimed these details are part of CCTV footage. "The doctor posted went to the X-Ray department to check on the patient and then went to minor OT from there. From there, the patient's hair had to be shaved for the sutures, which was a basic treatment for an injury of 2 cm," Dr Bhandare said.

He is unsure of the events that unfolded in the minor OT as there are no cameras inside. He is also unsure if the barber was called in to shave the head or if it was the doctors who themselves did it as the hospital "is severely short-staffed on barbers as well as ward-attendants". After the patient died a large crowd gathered outside Dr Bhandare's office seeking accountability.

Rajeev Nivatkar, state commissioner of medical education, said, "The committee's probe will also be looking into the extent of which any shortage played a role. But from our understanding, the shortage is not connected to the incident that has occurred." While the specific data with regards to J J Group of Hospitals was unavailable till going to the press, 2022 figures for state-wide medical college hospitals show that out of the 1,765 posts for assistant professors, 824 are vacant. Meanwhile, 168 of 490 professor posts are vacant.