Chennai: In a shocking incident, Santosh Kumar, a final-year MBBS student at the Madras Medical College, died a day after undergoing a hair transplant surgery at a salon in Chennai.
According to a report in The Times of India, the matter came to light after a fortnight when his batchmates filed a complaint with the State Directorate of Medical Education.
Earlier, no post-mortem was conducted as Santosh’s family had reportedly not lodged any complaint after his death. Doctors, however, suspected that the possible cause of death may be complications arising of an unmanaged allergy to anaesthesia.
The Follicular Unit Extraction surgery was conducted by Dr Hariprasad kasturi, an anaesthetist, and Dr A Vineeth Suryakumar, an MBBS who graduated from a college in China.
Tamil Nadu Medical Council, on the directions of the health department, has issued notices to two doctors involved in the surgery asking for an explanation as to why they conducted the hair transplant surgery without having the necessary qualification. The directorate of medical services (DMS) has sealed the salon.
"We have issued notices to them. We have asked Dr Hariprasad why he did not stay in the salon till the procedure was completed. We have asked Dr Vineeth how he performed the surgery without being qualified. Hair transplant is a surgery and Vineeth is not a surgeon," Tamil Nadu Medical Council president Dr K Senthil told The Times of India.
The hair transplant surgery involves removal of tiny plugs of skin from the back or sides of the scalp, each containing a few hairs, under local anaesthesia.
The procedure was conducted at the Advanced Robotic Hair Transplant Centre in the Nungambakkam locality of Chennai on May 17. The salon possesses a licence only for hair styling and hair cutting
According to medical procedures, an anaesthetic should be present throughout the surgery, but Dr Hariprasad left early.
Soon after the surgery, Santosh complained of discomfort and was taken to a private hospital nearby where Dr Hariprasad worked. After a few hours, he along with his family left for his hometown.
The next day, his condition deteriorated and was immediately taken to Christian Medical College, Vellore, where he unfortunately died.
"Hospital reports said that he died soon after admission due to multi-organ failure triggered by delayed anaphylaxis and toxic syndrome," said Dr Senthil.
