A four-year-old girl from Cheruvannur Madurai Bazaar, Kozhikode, who was supposed to undergo finger surgery, allegedly ended up being operated on her tongue instead, at the government medical college hospital, Kozhikode in Kerala.
Dr. Bejohn Johnson, who performed the surgery, has been suspended.
The action against the doctor came in the wake of a report filed by the head of the Directorate of Medical Education on the instruction of Health Minister Veena George.
Earlier, the child’s parents filed a case of medical negligence claiming their consent was not sought for the operation on the tongue.
After the surgery, the duty nurse advised the family to give ice cream to the girl. At that time, the family noticed cotton on her mouth. They asked the nurse about it. When they changed the cloth on her hand, the sixth finger was still there. The medical college superintendent clarified that the child also had issues with her tongue. However, the relatives said that the girl did not have any such problem and that they did not come for that surgery.
At this point, the doctor, who performed the surgery realised his mistake and apologised saying it was a mistake on his part and immediately performed another operation and removed the sixth finger.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Veena George announced an inquiry into the incident and asked DME to submit a report after conducting a detailed probe into the incident.