Kerala: Surgery performed on 4-year-old's tongue instead of finger
The Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, Kerala, has been accused of performing the wrong surgery on a four-year-old girl. The patient was admitted to the Maternal and Child Care Center to have an additional finger removed from her hand, but doctors mistakenly operated on her tongue. "We were surprised to see the girl's mouth was in plaster. We did not know what happened and then when we checked her hand, the sixth finger was still there," a relative said.
Hospital superintendent confirms incident, promises investigation
The hospital superintendent, Dr. Arun Preet, confirmed the incident to Onmanorama. "Yes, there was an incident. However, the child will only benefit from the procedure," he stated. Preet acknowledged a communication error and assured that an investigation would be conducted into the matter. He explained that the doctor decided to operate on her tongue first after noticing "tongue-tie" in the child. "He first corrected that before doing surgery to remove the sixth finger," Preet said.
Family discovers error, plans to lodge complaint
Reacting to the medical blunder, the family said, "No one should have such an experience again at the Medical College Hospital." The family also claimed that their child had no pre-existing issues with her tongue and demanded that hospital authorities take responsibility for any adverse consequences resulting from this procedure. "The hospital authorities informed us that it was a mistake as they had scheduled surgery for two children on the same date," a family member said.
Health Minister orders immediate investigation into incident
In response to the incident, Health Minister Veena has directed the Director of Medical Education to conduct an immediate investigation and submit a comprehensive report. The child remains hospitalized as investigations continue into this case. The same hospital had made headlines last year for another medical blunder. In that particular case, a pair of forceps was left in the abdomen of a woman after she underwent a C-section.
