Health Minister Veena George on Monday acknowledged that medical negligence was responsible for the erroneous surgery performed on a four-year-old child at the Kozhikode Medical College recently.
Instead of removing a sixth finger on the child’s hand, the botched surgery mistakenly targeted the patient’s tongue.
Responding to questions at the Assembly, Mr. George said a tongue-tie surgery had been performed on the child, instead of removing the sixth finger.
Condemning the serious lapse, she added action had been taken against the doctor responsible on the same day. The government will not tolerate such errors that could endanger the lives of patients, she asserted.
She was, however, critical of a smear campaign purportedly unleashed by the Opposition to cast aspersions on the quality of treatment in public hospitals.
