A woman admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata suffered multiple organ failure and had to be put on ventilator after the staff allegedly gave her blood of the wrong group last week, ANI reported. The 31-year-old’s family has filed a case of medical negligence, even as the hospital authorities claim to have formed a team to investigate the matter.
The patient, Baishakhi Saha, underwent a surgery on June 5 after she was taken to Columbia Asia Hospital. However, during the procedure, she was allegedly given AB+ blood, even though her blood group is A+.
“I admitted my wife to Columbia Asia Hospital on June 5,” the patient’s husband Abhijit Saha told ANI. “She was infused blood of a wrong group during surgery. Her lungs and kidneys are damaged. The administration is now threatening to stop treatment if I refuse to pay the bills. I have already paid Rs 2.5 lakh.”
On the day of the surgery, he had asked nurses about the blood that had been infused, Saha told The Indian Express. “They said it was AB+ while my wife is A+,” he said. “I was surprised and told them they were giving a wrong blood group. They kept arguing that it was done as per the serology report. She was given blood and within a few hours her body started reacting.”
The hospital said the patient had “developed a complication following blood transfusion, which has been aggressively treated by a team of specialists”. “The patient has shown gradual improvement and is likely to be weaned off the ventilator in the next 24 hours,” a statement from the hospital read.
Saha has written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asking her to take strict action against the hospital.
The hospital administration has formed a team to investigate the family’s claim, Dr Tirthankar Bagchi, chief of medical and administration, told ANI.
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