JAIPUR: City’s Manipal Hospital is facing serious allegations levelled by more than 15 families of patients, who underwent haplo-identical bone marrow transplant (HIBMT). The families claimed that at least 24 thalassemia children had died due to HIBMT. She remained on ventilator support for 26 days, but she died in the hospital. “Talking to TOI, Dr Katewa said, “It is not like that we have not told them about risk involved in HIBMT. We deny all allegations made against the doctor and the hospital.
JAIPUR: City’s Manipal Hospital is facing serious allegations levelled by more than 15 families of patients, who underwent haplo-identical bone marrow transplant (HIBMT). The families claimed that at least 24 thalassemia children had died due to HIBMT. Manipal hospital, Jaipur and doctors’ team refute all the allegation as baseless and factually wrong.After the allegations, the state health department hurriedly ordered an inquiry into the matter under Sawai Man Singh Hospital ‘s medical superintendent Dr D S Meena.Denying the allegations, Manipal Hospital’s Unit head G Karthihaivelan said in a statement, “While we respect the privacy of our patients, we have decided to issue a clarification like this as there is an attempt to malign the reputation of our hospital and the team of dedicated and skilled doctors.” He added, “We will offer complete cooperation to the enquiry being conducted by the state government, so that an independent authority brings out the facts. We commit our complete co-operation for any further enquiry which may be carried out by appropriate authorities. We deny all allegations made against the doctor and the hospital. The accusations made are false, baseless and imaginary.”On Thursday, the aggrieved parents from Siliguri, Patna, Jodhpur, Charkhi Dadri, Sonipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra , Delhi and Jaipur gathered in the city and alleged that the doctors who conducted the HIBMT misled them by saying that rate of survival after HIBMT is more than 90%.The Manipal Hospital, however, said that the numbers of deaths being told by complaints during bone marrow transplant are not only imaginary but also fabricated to malign the reputation of this state-of-art BMT program at the hospital in Jaipur.Amit Kumar Agarwal, a resident of Patna, whose 16-year-old nephew underwent HIBMT at the hospital for thalassemia said, “The doctor came to Patna where we met him. He told us that the success rate is 90% to 95%. But, my nephew died after 14 months of HIBMT. I spent Rs 2.5crore on his treatment, despite of that, we lost him.”One Sushil Kumar, who belongs to Charkha Dadri, whose 9-year-old daughter died after HIBMT said, “The studies show that HIBMT is quite risky and cannot be recommended but doctor performed it on many patients, who lost their lives.”One Laxmi Chandrawani, lost her 17-year-old daughter, at the hospital. “She was admitted to the hospital on July 13, 2017. Doctors performed HIBMT on August 3. As her condition deteriorated, doctors put her on ventilator support. She remained on ventilator support for 26 days, but she died in the hospital.”Talking to TOI, Dr Katewa said, “It is not like that we have not told them about risk involved in HIBMT. They signed legal document giving permission for the transplant. BMT is done only for those kids where there is no other cure available and this too is based entirely on the wish of the family. Who survives and who doesn’t in not in our hand.”He said, “We have lost 8 kids during 50% HLA matched BMT for thalassemics in the first 100 days (transplant related) and after that we have lost three more kids (not counted as transplant related). The total number of deaths in thalassemia transplants are 11,” said Katewa.
