An internal audit conducted by the authorities of Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, into the death of a road accident victim, Murugan, has reported that the doctors at MCH had done whatever was possible for the patient.
Murugan had died as he was allegedly not provided a ventilator and higher level of care by any of the hospitals that he was taken to.
The team of various department heads, headed by Deputy Superintendent Joby John, has handed over its observations to the Director of Medical Education. Dr. John said the doctors at MCH had done everything possible for the patient as per the treatment protocols.
Inferior option
“MCH never refused admission to the patient. The patient ideally required ventilator care. But as MCH did not have any ventilator to spare, the options were to shift him to a hospital with ventilator or to admit him and try to keep him alive using an ambu bag, which is a manual resuscitator. But the latter would have been an inferior option,” according to Dr. John. “The patient had actually been on a ventilator inside the ambulance till the end. There was no ventilator in the hospital to provide, once he was disconnected from the one inside the ambulance. So he was not removed from the ambulance,” he said.