NEW DELHI: This would rate among the most embarrassing slip-ups by the country's premier medical institute, AIIMS. In a horrible mix-up, the institute medics have transfused blood of a wrong blood group into a middle-aged man. The patient is now battling for life.
The 50-year-old patient, RN Tripathi, underwent a knee replacement surgery on October 17 during which he was reportedly given O+ blood instead of B+ after which he suffered acute renal failure. He has already had at least seven dialysis sessions and is still in bed number 4 in CT2 ICU, which is a cardiology intensive care unit of the institute.
The patient was admitted under the care of Dr Rajesh Malhotra, professor in the department of orthopaedics, AIIMS. Malhotra admits having done the surgery and that in the pre-operation tests, the patient didn't have any kidney trouble.
Dr Malhotra told TOI: "What has happened to him after that is a transfusion reaction but I cannot comment on whose fault it is. In fact, for a knee replacement, blood is not even transfused during the operation; it is done after that. His treatment is on. You may get an official reaction from Dr Shakti Gupta." AIIMS spokesman, Dr Shakti Gupta, said that it was not possible to get patient details at such "short notice".