Delhi govt sets up panel to review three deaths of heart patients at hospital

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Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital is one of the three Delhi government-run hospitals that offer cardiac care surgeries. Although the patients’ families had alleged that the hospital used faulty stents, doctors from the hospital said it is not possible since two of the three patients were very critical and died before the stents could be implanted.

“The only common ground is that all the three patients were taken to the cath lab of the hospital. Two of them succumbed even before the procedure could be performed,” said a doctor from the hospital, on condition of anonymity.

Stenting is a procedure where a cylindrical hollow mesh is put inside the blocked vessel to open it up.

When done in an emergency situation— like when a patient is having a heart attack— the doctors try to reduce the door to needle time because the longer the blockage remains the more the heart muscle gets damaged.

Two of the three patients who died on Monday were men between the ages of 30 and 40 years, whereas the third patient was a woman above 60 years of age.

Another doctor from the hospital said, “This is just a political gimmick now that the municipal corporation polls are approaching. The hospital has been doing the procedure for a few years now and there have been no issues. It’s unfortunate that three people died on the same day so the inquiry has been ordered.”