Blood bank licence of South Bombay hospital suspended

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended the licence of Jaslok Hospital's blood bank for two weeks after family members claimed that leukaemia patient Deepti Makhijani died because of a wrong blood transfusion. But the hospital has denied receiving any such orders.

Deepti died on December 8, 2011, a little over two months after receiving blood of an incorrect group. According to her father Narendra, Deepti was transfused B positive blood instead of A positive on October 5. She was suffering from acute myelogenous leukaemia-cancer of the white blood cells-and had gone to the hospital for a second cycle of chemotherapy. She succumbed to multi-organ failure, which the family alleged was a fallout of the transfusion.

Joint commissioner of FDA, P R Uttarwar, said the hospital had been informed about the licence cancellation via a notice sent by post last week. Earlier, the FDA had inspected the blood bank and sent the hospital a show-cause notice asking authorities to explain the error. FDA officials reiterated that the suspension was because they are positive that the patient had been transfused with an incompatible blood group, but clarified that there was nothing to prove that the she died because of it. The licence was suspended because there was an error on the part of the hospital, said Uttarwar.

An inquiry committee set up by the state said the patient could not have died because of a wrong transfusion, as it had lasted for only for four to five minutes.

Medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr A H Ganguly, said: "We have not got any notice . We had conducted an enquiry , but no one is under suspicion" . He added that the administration of the wrong blood group was an error and nurses had been counselled.Narendra said: "I want action against the doctors who treated Deepti.