KOCHI: MBBS student Shamna Tasnim, who died at the Ernakulam Government Medical College (EMC) recently, had severe influenza viral infection of H3N2 at the time of her death, it is learnt. The virology lab test conducted at Alappuzha TD Medical College after the post-mortem is understood to have proved this. “It has to be proved now whether the cause of death was this viral infection or the complications arising from the allergy of the antibiotic administered. After this is confirmed, the post-mortem result will be released,” said a forensic surgeon with the medical college.
It is being pointed out that there wouldn't be anything substantial to prove medical negligence in the post-mortem report which police are awaiting for referring the case to the medical board. “The students allege that there was a delay of over 20 minutes in taking the student to the ICU from the ward where she collapsed after she was given the injection. This is pointed out as medical negligence and the post-mortem report cannot prove or disprove anything of that sort,” said the forensic surgeon with Alappuzha Medical College.
“The issues like whether there weren’t adequate facilities to take care of the patient in the ward where she fell after the injection was administered can be probed by the police and the medical board and appropriate recommendation or action can be taken. They need not wait for the post-mortem report to probe it. The report deals with the cause of death only. The depositions by students say that Shamna had come to the hospital with the fever twice on the previous day, which is a crucial aspect,” the surgeon said.
The relatives of Shamna had alleged that she did not get proper care after she approached the hospital with fever, which led to her death. Referring to the allegation that the girl was shifted from EMC to Rajagiri Hospital after she died, the surgeon said: “The post-mortem report records the time since death through investigation. This will be in a range of time and in this case it could be up to six hours.” “Moreover, we have got some blood test results conducted at Rajagiri Hospital which are difficult to be conducted on a dead body. The case sheet of the hospital could be crucial evidence,” he added.
