<i>Physician dies from 'wrong treatment' </i>
A heart specialist died yesterday allegedly due to wrong treatment and negligence during his surgery at a private hospital in the capital nine days ago.
Dr AEM Mazharul Islam Emran, 44, associate professor of cardiology at Faridpur Medical College, had his haemorrhoids (piles) operated on at Gastro Liver Hospital on December 24 by Prof Dr SM Abu Zafar.
The deceased's brother Zahidul Islam said Emran had a cardiac arrest while he was left in the post operative room completely unattended. Nobody noticed that he had a heart attack until about 15 minutes later, and by then his brain cells were damaged, he added.
Emran was immediately moved to Lab Aid Specialised Hospital where he had been on life support since December 24.
Recalling the day of his operation, Emran's widow Dr Shamima Sultana said she feared that something might have gone wrong when the "simple operation" was taking an hour.
She said when it was discovered that Emran had a cardiac arrest, a doctor applied Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on Emran to make him breathe again. His heartbeat returned but his consciousness did not, she added.
Dr Md Faruk, senior consultant, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Lab Aid Hospital, said instead of using regional anaesthesia, the doctors applied general anaesthesia (GA) on Emran.
"Still the use of GA would not cause a serious problem if he had not been left unattended for such a long time."
He said GA sometimes might cause cardiac arrest but immediate action could save patients from major harms.
Both the surgeon, Prof SM Abu Zafar, and the anaesthetist, Dr Mahbubul Alam Munir, said GA was used as Emran asked for it.
Dr Zafar claimed that there were two nurses on duty in the post operative room but Dr Munir said as Emran's operation was a minor one, they did not constantly monitor his condition.
Dr Zafar also claimed that Emran's blood pressure was normal but his condition deteriorated when he was being taken to Lab Aid Hospital.
Lab Aid physician Dr Faruk, however, refuted the claim.
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