Patient blames PAU hospital for ‘misleading’ reports

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 19

Test reports of the diagnostic laboratory of Punjab Agricultural University campus hospital could have landed her into trouble had she not sought second opinion, claimed patient Nirmal Kaur.

The reports suggested high creatinine level and thus possible malfunction or failure of kidney. The patient was already taking medicines for it (as suggested by earlier reports). However, the creatinine level of the patient was within the prescribed limit.

Nirmal Kaur visited the campus hospital of PAU on February 18 for routine health check-up and the doctor advised her a few tests. The report suggested that the serum creatinine level was high at 1.2 mg/dl (normal range 0.5-1.1) and her medication was started accordingly.

“I was taking medicines regularly and again visited the hospital in March, May and July. In July, the doctor asked me to repeat the tests. In the report of July 8, the creatnine level increased drastically to 3.7 mg/dl and urea level also increased to 72 mg/dl (normal range 10.00 to 50.00). My reports suggested some serious kidney problem as the creatnine level was going high despite medication,” said Nirmal Kaur.

Her son thought of getting the tests done from another laboratory to cross-check the reports.

On July 12, he got the tests done from a private laboratory, which suggested her mother’s creatnine level at 0.78 mg/dl and urea at 40.50 mg/dl (all within the prescribed limits).

“I went to the PAU campus hospital with the reports of the private laboratory to know about the difference, but doctors told me that they didn’t accept the reports of the private laboratory and asked me to go to the DMCH for getting second opinion on the reports given by the PAU hospital. On July 15, we went to the DMCH and got the tests done, which also showed the creatnine and urea level of my mother within the prescribed limits at 0.71 mg/dl and 48.0 mg/dl, respectively,” said Jaswinder Singh, son of Nirmal Kaur.

“I went under mental stress after seeing the PAU hospital reports. Had I started the treatment of my mother, it could have proved fatal for her. After all the facts were cleared, I tried to bring the same to the notice of the PAU authorities and wrote a letter to the Vice-Chancellor on July 17, seeking a reply but I have received none so far despite sending a reminder letter on August 9,” he said.

Probe under way: varsity registrar 

“The matter was brought to our notice through a letter received by the university. We have asked the doctor concerned and investigation is being done. Action will be taken accordingly. Sometimes, it is not possible to respond to all letters personally, but every matter is definitely looked into and inquired by the university,” said Dr RS Sidhu.

What SMO of PAU hospital says

“The tests at the PAU are done by auto analyser. The tests of all other patients are fine. In this particular case, the first test was repeated after four days and second test was repeated after three days. The day she came to us she was de-hydrated, which affected the result of the test. The tests were repeated on different days and it is possible that the results come different. We did our job best and referred the patient to a hospital, which has a nephrologist so that proper care could be taken since we do not have specialists. Tests were done on different days and under different circumstances due to which the results of the reports varied,” said Dr Daljit Singh Punni.