Patna: Twelve-year-old Prachi Kumari was taken for an appendectomy on Tuesday when the surgeon of a govt hospital in Muzaffarpur district allegedly found her appendix to be missing during the operation. The incident raised eyebrows among the girl's family members who alleged medical negligence in the matter.
Responding to the family members, the health department formed a three-member expert committee on Wednesday to conduct an inquiry into the alleged medical negligence during the surgery.
Muzaffarpur civil surgeon Dr Ajay Kumar said that the committee, headed by sadar hospital superintendent Dr B S Jha, has been instructed to submit a report within 24 hours. "Although there does not seem to be any lapse on the part of the surgeon — who has already apologised — as no appendix was found in the patient while the operation was to remove it," he said.
Congenital absence of the appendix is an extremely rare condition. Such a case is found in one out of five to 10 lakh patients," he said.
The family members of Prachi from Kanti-Manpura village said she was brought to the hospital on October 28 after she complained of frequent stomach aches. Subsequently, the doctors recommended an ultrasound and gave her medicine for 10 days. The family said they went for an ultrasound twice at a private diagnostic centre as well as the sadar hospital. Seeing the ultrasound reports, the doctors advised the family to bring the patient to the hospital for an appendectomy after the Chhath festival. Accordingly, the family admitted the patient to the hospital on Monday, and she was operated on the next day.
"After the operation, the surgeon apologised to me, saying they didn't see any appendix-related problem. This is gross negligence on the part of the doctor, and action must be taken against both the surgeon and ultrasound agencies. It's risking the life of a patient," her grandfather Shankar Rai said over the phone, demanding stern action against all those involved in the surgery.
Denying any negligence on the part of the doctor, Jha said the surgeon operated on the patient based on the ultrasound report, describing it as a "diagnostic procedure". "It's part and procedure of diagnosis. Sometimes when there is confusion, we have to operate to see where the fault is," the superintendent said on Wednesday, rejecting it as a case of medical negligence.
"There is neither medical negligence nor malafide intention. The ultrasound suggested a suspected appendix, but upon opening the abdomen, no inflammation was found. The appendix was not present as we were told," Jha said.
Muzaffarpur district magistrate Subrat Kumar Sen also visited the sadar hospital on Wednesday and met the affected patient, assuring her justice.
"Perhaps, the ultrasound indicated an appendix issue, but it was not found during the surgery," he told the media.