- Surgeons cut open the wrong patient’s head at hospital in Kenya
- Medical staff had mixed up the identity tags for two patients
- Mistake was not discovered until two hours into the brain surgery
Medical staff at one of Kenya’s biggest hospitals have been suspended after sending the wrong patient in for brain surgery.
Doctors at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi did not realise they had opened the skull of the wrong patient until two hours into the procedure meant to remove a blood clot.
The incident was reportedly caused by the ID tags of two patients – one needing brain surgery, and the other non-invasive treatment – being mixed up.
Medical mix-up: It took two hours before surgeons at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, pictured, realised they had been operating on the wrong patient
Kenyan media reported that a neurosurgery registrar, anaesthetist and two nurses had been suspended by the hospital.
Both the person operated on and the blood clot patient are in good condition, it said.
The staff at the hospital were later defended by the head of the Kenyan doctors’ union, who said the mix-up laid bare the dangers to patients of an ‘overwhelmed’ system and staff.
‘These are quality system issues that should not be levelled at staff,’ Dr Ouma Oluga, chief executive officer of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union,.
Dr Oluga added that punishing doctors and nurses would not address problems in the patient tracking system.
Confusion: Medical staff had reportedly mixed up the ID tags of two patients: one needing brain surgery, and the other non-invasive treatment
A shortage of medical staff and inadequate theatre space made errors more likely, Dr Oluga said.
‘Doctors are overwhelmed. You find one doctor could be doing 10 to 19 operations [in a day].’
Government-employed doctors say they are poorly paid and work without adequate equipment. Last year the government granted them a pay rise promised in 2013 after a three-month strike.
The hospital’s spokesman did not answer requests for comment.