A young woman who had just become a mother died at the Anantapur Government General Hospital on Thursday after being wrongly administered a wrong blood type, in a shocking case of medical callousness that is sending ripples across the establishment.
The woman, Akhtar Bano, was 32 years old.
Hospital staff, several doctors included, then attempted to cover up the incident, telling Bano's shocked husband that her death was caused by a heart attack.
Gross callousness
Bano, who hailed from Tadipatri, was admitted to the Anantapur GGH on June 25 for a Caesarean section after being referred there by the Tadipatri CHC where she was initially admitted.
The delivery was performed successfully that same afternoon, and Bano became the mother of a baby girl. While both the mother and baby were in good health, doctors decided to transfuse a few units of blood to Bano the next day as her haemoglobin count was low.
In a brazen act of carelessness, the Blood Bank staff administered B+ blood to Bano, who was O+. Only 100 ml of blood was transfused, but by the end of the transfusion Bano began to suffer extreme complications and was rushed to the hospital's Intensive Care Unit on the afternoon of June 26.
In the early hours of June 27, doctors told Bano's husband Habibullah that his wife died after suffering a heart attack.
Cover-up begins
Suspecting medical negligence, Bano's family refused to take her body for three hours. Word soon reached District Collector S. Satyanarayana on Friday (June 28) about the incident. Mr. Satyanarayana then visited the hospital, where he was told by doctors that Bano's death was caused by a sudden heart attack. The Collector was reportedly shown some blood samples in order to convince him that there was no mistake committed during the blood transfusion.
Not fully convinced by the hospital's explanation, Mr. Satyanarayana ordered an inquiry to be conducted by Municipal Commissioner P. Prashanti. On examining Bano's health records, Ms. Prashanti found out that she had a O+ phenotype, and not the B+ that the hospital had administered her.
Ms. Prashanti submitted her report to the Collector on Friday night.
Swift action
The State government on Saturday suspended Blood Bank in-charge doctor Shiv Kumar, gynaecologist Harshitha, Lab Assistant Murali Mohan, and nurses Renukamma and Praveena. The government also served show-cause notices on GGH Superintendent A. Jagannath and gynaecologist Bhawani. Deputy Chief Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas initially scheduled a visit to the Anantapur GGH on Saturday but the visit was cancelled due to unknown reasons.
