This story is from June 7, 2019

AIIMS in Delhi to pay Rs 50 lakh for death of MBBS student in ’06

AIIMS in Delhi to pay Rs 50 lakh for death of MBBS student in ’06
All India Institutes of Medical Sciences
NEW DELHI: The family of an aspiring doctor, who died of dengue while studying in the seventh semester at AIIMS in 2006, has been awarded Rs 50 lakh compensation.
Raj Kiran Kamala, who had secured second rank in the AIIMS entrance medical examination, died at the medical institute’s ICU. The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has found AIIMS to be “casual” in its approach and “taking things lightly as if life of the patient (Raj) had no value”.
Noting that securing admission in MBBS in AIIMS was an extraordinary achievement, Commission member (judicial) O P Gupta said, “The parents of such a child had great hope that he would become a good doctor and have a respectable income.
The death of such a child at the young age of 20 years is bound to cause shock and the family is likely to lose the hope of ray.”
In 2003, Raj Kiran Kamala had secured second rank in the AIIMS entrance medical examination. While still a student at the institute he complained of fever and went to its emergency room on September 27, 2006. He was sent back to his room after a few hours though his condition required urgent attending as his hematocrit (blood concentration) count was 50%, platelets had come down to 1.05 lakh and he was having gastrointestinal bleeding. Dengue was common a viral infection with the symptoms of drastic reduction in hematocrit count. The next day, a resident doctor saw him and Kamala was advised hospitalisation after diagnosis of dengue hemorrhagic fever.
Though the doctor saw him at 3.45 pm, he was provided with a bed at 10.35 pm. With his condition worsening, the doctors moved him to ICU on September 29, 2006. During his treatment, however, Kamala suffered a cardiac arrest, but apparently revived following which he moved to a neurosurgery ICU. He was kept on life support for the next 24 hours but declared dead on September 30, 2006.
Kamala's father, Vijay Kumar, moved the consumer commission saying an "extraordinary" medical professional, akin to his son, would have easily earned Rs 1.5-2 lakh monthly. He, therefore, sought Rs 96 lakh compensation after taking his son's prospective monthly salary at Rs 60,000. AIIMS objected to the father's claims saying he was not a consumer. "At AIIMS no charges whatsoever for professional service rendered are taken from any patient and as such AIIMS does not fall within the ambit of Consumer Protection Act," it contended. The premier health institute also said that the father had already been given Rs 2 lakh as ex-gratia.
The state commission observed that death of such a child at the young age of 20 years was bound to the put the family in shock and lose its ray of hope. “The parents of such child had a great hope that their child would become a good doctor and earn respective income. I feel that compensation of Rs 50 lakh will be moderate,” Gupta held.
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