Kerala: Medical Board to look into Shamna Tasneem's death

Kochi : A meeting of the state level medical board is scheduled in Kochi, to re examine the complaints of a case of medical negligence, that involved the death of a Government Medical College student Shamna Tasneem. The district-level medical board probe into the incident has failed to come up with a unanimous opinion. This has led the police to request for a state level board to be appointed to look into the cause of death.

The latest report submitted by the medical board formed by the DMO states no medical negligence as having occurred, though one of the members on the board had written a dissent note on it.

On 18 July, Shamna sought treatment for fever at the hospital casualty, where an injection was administered to her. She collapsed following the injection and was shifted to the intensive care (ICU) and then to a private hospital, where she met with her end.

Read also:MBBS Student Death in Kerala : Investigation blames doctors

The August 10 report of the Deccan Chronicle reported, "the histopathological test result, the final one in the post-mortem of Shamna Tasneem, MBBS student of Ernakulam Government Medical College, is understood to have revealed that Shamna’s viral infection of H3N2 did not lead to her sudden death. “The virus did not cause the death by causing sudden failure of vital organs like lungs, heart or brain and the death was not due to pneumonitis, myocarditis or encephalitis hitting these organs respectively. Under such circumstances it can only be reasonably concluded that the death was as a result of the drug allergic reaction,” said forensic department sou-rces at Alappuzha Medical College.

'The virology lab results conducted at Alappuzha TD Medical College had earlier found that she had influenza A sub-type H3N2. The sources also said that post-mortem cannot find whether adrenaline was injected immediately after she collapsed following the administering of antibiotic injection ceftriaxone. The adrenaline injection is needed to resuscitate such patients. There were allegations that this was not given to her in time" the DC report further stated.

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