[Reader-list] Merit at AIIMS: Doctor dies of dengue, Delhi on the verge of a dengue epidemic

[Shivam Vij]

[Given below is the press release of the Progressive Medicos and
Scientists Association.]



Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum

Press release
Dated: 2.10.06

AIIMS administration that has earned a reputation for itself to rake
up and foster divide on sectarian questions has once again proved its
ineptness in doing what it is supposed to do best i.e. provide quality
medical care to the patients, that too at a time when the Government
is considering declaring Delhi being in the grip of Dengu epidemic.
Only that in the latest instance the victim of negligence has been
none other than a brilliant student of AIIMS it self. A senior faculty
member of the Department of Medicine at AIIMS has himself told the
tale of utter negligence that cost Kalmalla Raj Kiran his life.

It may first be known that at a time when there is an explosion of
sorts in cases of Dengu at AIIMS itself, most of the senior medical
staff of AIIMS casualty has been deputed to organizing the Indo-U.S
Summit on Emergency Medicine that is going on at AIIMS. The emergency
services have been virtually left to junior doctors who are not
oriented to deal with the outbreak of Dengu. Apart from this AIIMS has
a surplus of 60 faculty that have been appointed for the 'Trauma
Centre' of AIIMS that has not started functioning till date. Even this
faculty that is posted in the casualty was not present.

Raj Kiran was first brought to the casualty on the 27th of September
with complaints of fever and coffee colored vomiting, which is a sign
of bleeding in the stomach or food pipe (the esophagus). He was
attended to by a junior doctor who failed to take notice of the
symptoms which should have immediately aroused suspicion of Dengu.
However Dengu was ruled out by the junior resident doctor as the
platelet count (cells in the blood that prevent excess bleeding) was
1.3 lacks. The next time Raj Kiran was rushed to the casualty by his
friends when he was found collapsed in the toilet of the hostel.
However the same story got repeated as earlier. Even though he was
brought to the casualty earlier in the day on 28th, no Consultant was
approached to examine him. The platelet count had dropped drastically
to 60,000 by this time.

Finally when the doctor wrote that he be admitted immediately, no bed
was available for the student. Later in the evening Raj Kiran had an
attack of seizure as noticed by the another medical student who had
been attending to Raj Kiran. On being told about it the  attending
doctor in the casualty, dismissed it merely as shivering due to high
fever. Even though the patient was very drowsy and had altered
sensorium, no CT was done. He was rushed to the medical ICU in ward
C-2 at 2.00am on 29th, where again the senior resident doctor on duty
was not present. The junior post-graduate students who attended to Raj
Kiran tried their best to salvage the situation. A CT scan was
performed only at 5.00 am in the morning and when it was finally
learnt at 6.30 am that Raj Kiran had had a massive bleeding in the
brain, that the concerned Consultant on call was informed of the
condition for the first time. Even though the consultant immediately
arranged for the patient to be taken up for surgery in the
Neurosurgery department, but the patient had virtually been lost.

In the meantime at least a dozen friends of Raj Kiran were running
from pillar to post to donate blood for him when they learnt that
there was not a single unit of 'Fresh Frozen Plasma' available for
transfusion. To their utter shock when they finally managed to contact
the doctor incharge of the blood bank they were told that the kit
meant for separating platelets from blood (SDP kit) was not available
with the blood bank of the 'Premier Medical Institute' of the country.

If this is the efficiency with which a student of  AIIMS was done to
death due to a series of  negligence in the treatment, one can only
well imagine the plight of  common faceless patients in whose stories
never  get to see the light of the day.

PMSF feels that there is an Institutional breakdown at AIIMS as shown
by the shoddy handling in the case of Raj Kiran. The death of this
student is a reflection of the state of affairs at AIIMS and the
capabilities of the administration. PMSF also demands that a through
going enquiry be conducted by an outside agency in this whole issue,
that responsibilities be fixed and proper action be taken in the
matter against the authorities.


    * sd –
(Dr Vikas Bajpai)
Spokesperson, PMSF