The decision came after a 16-member state advisory committee, chaired by the public health department secretary, reviewed the case at Mantralaya, Mumbai, on November 6. The committee examined the findings of an eight-member expert panel led by renowned liver transplant surgeon Professor Dr. Mohammed Rela, president of the International Liver Transplant Society.
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The case involves a 48-year-old man who underwent a liver transplant on August 15 with his wife as the live donor. The man’s health deteriorated immediately after surgery, and he died the same day, while his wife later developed complications and passed away on August 22.
In response to the incident, the state had launched a suo motu investigation, suspended the hospital’s live liver transplant licence on August 26, and formed a committee to probe allegations of medical negligence.
Medical Dialogues had previously reported that taking suo motu cognisance of the deaths of a donor and recipient- a married couple, following a liver transplant surgery at Sahyadri Hospital in Pune, the Maharashtra Health Department has temporarily suspended the hospital’s liver transplant license and constituted an eight-member high-level committee to probe the alleged medical negligence.
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The inquiry concluded that there were no procedural errors or lapses in medical care. The committee conducted a thorough review of medical records, surgical procedures, and post-operative management, ultimately determining that the deaths were not due to clinical negligence, according to Dr Bhagwan Pawar, deputy director of health services and member secretary of the committee.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Dr Pawar said the director of health services, Mumbai, issued a letter on November 27 instructing the appropriate authority to cancel the suspension. “The suspension of the live liver transplant licence of Sahyadri hospitals has been revoked with immediate effect as per the provisions of the Human Organ Transplantation Act, 1994,” he said.
However, the police investigation in this case is ongoing. As per TOI, Senior inspector Girisha Nimbalkar said, "We have already written a letter to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai (in this regard). The reply of the hospital is awaited. The committee at the hospital has experts to investigate the case further."
Meanwhile, the family of the deceased donor is awaiting the postmortem report.
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