The Nepal Medical Council has found negligence on the part of hospital management, doctors, and lab technicians of the Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center behind the death of five-year-old Aakriti Kumari Sah.

Aakriti died at the center due to an apparent botched blood transfusion on April 30.

In the wake of the incident, the NMC, which is the national regulatory body of medical doctors, had formed a committee to probe the incident. 

"We have found sheer negligence on the part of the hospital, doctors and others involved in the treatment of the patient," Dr Kalu Singh Khatri, a member of the NMC, told the Post on Wednesday. "We have written to the police, as the probe team could not determine the person responsible for prescribing a wrong blood type."

The committee has sent a copy of the blood prescription to the forensic laboratory of Nepal Police to ascertain the person who prepared it. 

According to Khatri, the council has also rebuked Dr Rabindra Bhakta Timala, Dr Apurba Thakur, Dr Abinash Yadav and Dr Sanjeev Bhandari for their negligence from the time the patient was being prepared for the surgery.

"We have instructed the hospital administration to come up with a treatment protocol and written to the Nepal Health Professional Council to take action against the person who prescribed the wrong blood type,” said Khatri. "Further action will be taken after the report of the forensic lab."

A meeting of the NMC ethical board, however, could not arrive at any conclusion on the cause of the death. 

Several factors—renal failure, infection and major surgery—could be responsible, according to Khatri.

The Nepal Health Professional Council has also formed a three-member committee to probe the alleged negligence by lab technicians of the centre.

"The committee has completed interrogating Bindeshwor Yadav, Sarala Koirala and Lalita Shakya," Deepak Raj Bhatta, registrar of the NHPC, told the Post. "We will complete the investigation at the earliest. The guilty will face action."

Aakriti was born with a double-chambered right ventricle, a rare congenital heart condition, and was admitted to the center on April 26. She underwent surgery on April 30 and died the same day. 

Her death was caused by alleged acute hemolytic transfusion reaction, a serious complication that occurs due to a mismatch in blood group types between the recipient and the donor.

Copies of the haematology report obtained by the Post show Sah’s blood type as ‘O’ positive. However, relatives were asked to arrange for ‘A’ positive blood, according to a copy of the prescription seen by the Post. 

Aakriti’s death has raised serious concerns over safety procedures at the country’s leading cardiac hospital.

Aakriti’s family, who hails from Sisaudiya Municipality in Sarlahi district, has charged the center and its doctors with medical negligence.