Nairobi hospital staff suspended after performing brain surgery on wrong patient

(Representational image)

New Delhi: A neurosurgeon, his medical staff – including a ward nurse, theater receiving nurse, and anesthetist – of Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi were suspended after the surgeon mistakenly operated on the wrong patient in order to remove a blood clot in the brain.

The CEO and the director of clinical services have been placed on compulsory leave pending an investigation.

According to a report in Kenya's Daily Nation, the hospital staff had mixed up the identification tags of two patients prior to the surgery – one required brain surgery to remove a clot, while the other needed treatment for brain swelling.

The surgery had been going for hours before the team realized their mistake. The incident which took place on February 19, sparked outrage on social media platforms, with many calling for the resignation of the hospital's board members.

"The hospital profoundly laments this occasion and has done whatever it can to guarantee the security and prosperity of the patient being referred to," the hospital said in a statement, according to the Guardian.

As per reports, the patient in question is 'progressing well'.

This is not the first case that has put Kenyatta National Hospital in the line of fire. The hospital previously garnered flak after several other allegations of staff sexually assaulting patients and the theft of a newborn from the facility.

Hospital officials denied the allegations, saying in a statement in January that the "damning and untrue social media report is authored in bad faith and members of public of goodwill need to ignore."