Surgery performed on kid's tongue instead of finger, doctor suspended

Thiruvananthapuram: In an alleged instance of medical negligence, a surgery was performed on the tongue of a four-year-old girl child instead of finger.

The incident took place at Kozhikode government medical college hospital which is already facing other instances of medical negligence and even sexual assault on a patient in the intensive care unit.

The child hailing from Cheruvannur in Kozhikode was hospitalised for removing an additional finger on one of her hands. The surgery was scheduled for Thursday morning. 

The child's relative's alleged that when the child was brought out of the operation theatre it was found that surgery was performed on the tongue and the extra finger was not removed.

Health minister Veena George asked the director of medical education to conduct an urgent inquiry and give her report.

Meanwhile, Associate professor Dr Bejohn Johnson of the paediatric surgery department of mother and child wing, who performed the surgery was reported to have tendered an apology to the child's family by maintaining that a surgical correction of tongue tail was made without the consent of the parents. 

Doctor suspended

Later, Dr Johnson was placed under suspension. 

Sources said that another child was scheduled to undergo surgical correction of tongue tail at the same time. This had led to the goof-up. 

Congress workers staged a protest in front of the hospital demanding action against the doctor who made the alleged negligence.

Two doctors and as many nurses of the Kozhikode medical college hospital were recently charge sheeted for leaving a surgical forceps in the abdomen of a woman in 2017. A woman patient was allegedly sexually harassed by a hospital staff in the intensive care unit last year.