Even as M Natarajan, the 74-year-old husband of VK Sasikala, the ousted general secretary of the AIADMK, is recovering well in a corporate hospital in Chennai following kidney and liver transplants, the modus operandi behind the transplantation exercise is snowballing into a major controversy. The release issued by the corporate hospital in Chennai, where Natarajan underwent transplants states that the donor was shifted from Thanjavur to Chennai “against medical advice”.
Natarajan had been admitted to Gleneagles Global Health City in a critical condition and was on life support system for the last fortnight, according to frequent medical bulletins issued by the hospital. It had stated that Natarajan was in need of kidney and liver transplants and his relations had registered the request with the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Karthik, a 19-year-old poor casual labourer from Thanjavur, who had been admitted to a local hospital following a grievous injuries suffered in a road accident on Saturday was rushed to the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital for further treatment. A release by the Gleneagles Global Health City in Chennai on Wednesday has opened a Pandora’s box of queries and doubts about medical ethics involved in the whole operation.
The release by the corporate hospital said that doctors at Thanjavur Medical College Hospital had apprised the family of Karthik about his poor outcome, “Against medical advice, the family decided to move him to a private hospital for a second opinion and specialised care. The family chose to transfer him to Gleneagles Global Health City. The patient was seen by the neurological and trauma team and was provided further treatment at our centre. Despite treatment Karthik succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced brain dead on 3-10-2017 at GGHC,” said the release.
The release further stated that the family members of Karthik agreed to the requests by the hospital authorities to donate his vital organs to needy patients. Though the release said that the liver and one of the kidneys harvested from the brain dead victim were transplanted on a 74-year-old man from Tamil Nadu, who was on top of a combined liver-kidney transplant waiting list, it was silent about the identity of the receiver. All surgeries went on well and the patients are recovering well in intensive care, said the release. By late Wednesday evening, it was reported that Natarajan had successfully undergone liver and kidney transplants.
Medical professionals expressed their shock and concern over the discharge of a patient from a Government medical college hospital “against medical advice” and how the victim’s poor family mobilised an air ambulance which was summoned from Coimbatore to Trichy and then to Chennai for shifting him to the particular corporate hospital.
The members of the Sasikala clan are already facing wrath of a section in the AIADMK for their “authoritarian nature” during the hospitalisation of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2016 and her subsequent demise. It has been alleged by a Minister in Jayalalithaa’s Cabinet that even Ministers were not allowed to call on her during her hospitalisation.