Tamil Nadu: One-year-old admitted for mouth operation, undergoes surgery on penis

MADURAI:  A 25-year-old daily wage labourer from Virudhunagar district on Wednesday accused the doctors at Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) of operating on his son's penis instead of his mouth in connection with a cyst formation. GRH Dean Dr A Rathinavel has however denied the allegation of medical negligence.

R Ajithkumar of Ameerpalayam in Sattur said his second son was admitted to GRH for follow-up treatment on November 21 and the doctors performed an operation on him the next day. "When he was shifted back to bed, we noticed that the operation was performed on his penis. When we raised this issue, the doctors failed to give us any proper response. We suspect that the doctors performed a procedure required for another baby patient on my son," Ajithkumar said. The family has also lodged a complaint at the GRH police station.

The baby was referred to GRH last year with a congenital foregut duplication cyst on the floor of his mouth that caused severe airway obstruction, said Dean Rathinavel. "A surgery was performed on the boy on November 2 last year and he was sent home. Later, the boy developed adhesion of the tongue to the floor of his mouth. After an assessment, the child was posted electively for surgery.

However, during the surgery on Tuesday, the child was found to have a distended bladder. Hence, the doctors planned for catheterization upon which the patient was found to have tight phimosis. So, they proceeded with circumcision and tongue adhesion release at the same time, to avoid another round of anaesthesia. The child is doing well after the surgery. He is eating food, and passing urine normally," he said.