PGI blames patient's death on Pvt Doc

LUCKNOW: Imagine the plight of parents whose young son, 28 years old Pushpendra succumbs to death. And with his death their dreams of seeing him as a civil servant were also shattered. The trauma doesn''t end there as the parents discover that Dr Arup Banerjee from Heartline Cardiac Care Centre of Allahabad in implanting a pacemaker may have complicated his case to a point of no return.
Speaking to TOI, senior cardiologist at Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, SGPGIMS, Dr PK Goyal, whom the case was referred to, categorically stated that the doctor who did this to the patient should be severely penalised.
"This is a clear cut case of a private clinic implanting a pacemaker when they are not qualified to do so. Without adequate sterilisation the implant caused infection and septicemia. After keeping the patient for 20 days they sent him to PGI when things had gone horribly wrong. Pushpendra had developed jaundice, renal failure, hypo-tension and was in a state of septic shock," he said.
According to Dr Arup Bannerji, there is a lobby that is working against him to tarnish his name. "If the issue of negligence and malpractice is being raised against me for a fair trial the role of SGPGI should also be put under the scanner," he stressed.
"When I referred the case to PGI, Pushpendra had pneumonia. Apart from this his condition was stable though we did recommend that a ventilator may be required. However, he was made to wait for two and a half hours as no bed was available at PGI. What needs to be questioned is why wasn''t an emergency patient immediately attended to at PGI," he said.
Dr Goyal has denied these allegations. "We were informed that Pushpendra had developed pneumonia. However, when he arrived we discovered that this was no normal pneumonia but acute respiratory distress syndrome pneumonia which is the last stage of the patient caused by infection. PGI did not refuse the patient but we were not prepared for a critical care emergency patient as we were misinformed which is why it took time to admit Pushpendra," he added.
Goyal added that with all the cathlabs mushrooming across the state they have no proper facilities for sterilisation and were simply fooling the public.
The doctors are not equipped to handle this procedure and it is a certainty that in Pushpendra''s case something was wrong in the sterilisation milieu which roped in the disease causing the complications.
As per PGI stipulations, the referring hospital has to inform PGI in advance about the requirements of the patient. On being questioned, Bannerji said that he did not know that this advance notice needed to be given when he had contacted Dr PK Goyal.