Though the report of the inquiry committee instituted to probe the death of two women who went into a coma and never regained consciousness after undergoing operation for gall stone removal at JN hospital is yet to be made public, we cannot help but observe that something horribly wrong must have occurred on the day the two operations were performed. Yes we know, doctors cannot be expected to perform miracles and we also acknowledge that not all operations can be successful but when two deaths occur in a similar fashion after undergoing the same operation on the same day in the same Operation Theatre and when the same set of surgeons and anesthetists performed the two operations, the tell tale signs of error, human or technical, cannot be written off at all.
On October 4, 65 year old Thongam Thoibi was wheeled into the operation theatre at 10 am but after the operation the woman lapsed into a coma and after all efforts to revive her failed, passed away the next day. The same trend was to follow after Khoirom Subadani was wheeled into the operation theatre at 12.15 pm on October 4. Subadani lay in coma before passing away on October 7. Fittingly a six member inquiry committee headed by the Superintendent of JN Hospital Dr P Narendra was instituted immediately after the death of the first woman to probe the ugly development. The report is yet to be made public and while it is still not clear whether the deaths occurred due to human or technical error we would like to raise certain points for all to think over.
As we had already posed before, why was the second operation performed if the first woman had failed to regain consciousness after the operation? Why didn't the JN Hospital authority press the alarm bell and suspend the second operation as well? Remember a good two hours elapsed between the first and second operation and this should have been enough time to alert the hospital administration that something was amiss.
The point that we are trying to stress is, even if the first woman became a victim of technical failure there was enough time to abort the second operation and investigate what went wrong. In many ways this has exposed how the health care system functions here and to think that this can happen in the biggest State Government run hospital is frightening. We hope the inquiry report will serve its real purpose and if there was any human error then the doctors or anesthetists concerned should be pulled up and penalized. And if there were any technical defects then the administrative heads of the Health Department should roll.
No room should be given for leniency. In many ways what happened at JN Hospital is also symptomatic of the ills afflicting the entire health system operating in the State. It is not only for lack of adequate infrastructure and medical experts that we see so many patients going outside the State for medical treatment but because of the system pervading here where the doctors and other health workers increasingly give the impression that they are doing the patients a great service merely by reading their pulse rate! It is this attitude that should be first addressed by those in positions of power and authority.
In recent years arrogance have come to be closely associated with the medical fraternity and this is one of the over riding factors for the deep chasm between the patient parties and the doctors. The scalpel the doctors wield and the uniform they wear should signify a profession that is there to save lives and treating a patient and nursing him back to health should not mean merely removing a stone or a tumor but ‘treating’ the sick and ailing. This is what has been lacking amongst the medical fraternity. The JN Hospital episode is a reflection of the rot that has sunk in the health care system here as well as the pervading attitude amongst the medical practitioners. Let's learn a lesson or two from this.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)
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