Two patients who underwent kidney transplants, a couple of days ago, at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (GH) died at the hospital.
On September 15, two persons — Sooriyagandhi (42) of Vandavasi taluk, Tiruvannamalai, and Arokiasamy (45) of Arakkonam, Vellore — were declared brain dead at GH. They were injured in separate road accidents.
The families of both victims willingly donated the organs. Four kidneys were harvested, of which three were given to patients in need of transplants at the hospital itself.
The fourth kidney was allotted to Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.
Two of the patients who received the kidneys died after the transplant. “Three transplants were done in two days. Two recipients died after the transplant and this could have happened only due to mistakes in the surgery,” said a hospital official.
To assess the suitability of kidneys harvested from cadavers, lymphocyte cross-matching is done during which blood samples of the donor and recipient are taken. The doctors, the official said, were ‘unable to explain the medical causes’ for the death of the patients. “Such things should not happen,” he said.
GH doctors confirmed that two patients had died after the transplant but were not willing to disclose information on the identity of the patients or the date of death.
Another official said details of patients’ deaths were classified information, which would be put forth only for the hospital’s internal audit. The death occurred due to medical reasons, which could not be disclosed, the official said.
GH dean, V. Kanagasabai, was not available for response.
