New Delhi: A 15-year-old girl from Kota, who had been visiting AIIMS Delhi from the age of two for a complex congenital heart defect, died in the hospital early Tuesday, 14 days after TOI reported her family’s long wait for corrective heart surgery.
Asked about her death, Dr V Devagourou, professor and head of the department of CTVS, CT Centre, said that Tanvi was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect (VSD) with pulmonary atresia in 2012 and evaluated for surgery in 2013. He said “surgery was ruled out in 2018 and she was subsequently managed medically. She was admitted on Aug 24 for evaluation for a possible heart-lung transplant.”
Tanvi was first taken to AIIMS in 2012. The family alleged that surgery dates, fixed in 2015, eventually did not materialise.
An AIIMS document dated Jan 31, 2014, diagnosed “VSD + pulmonary atresia” in her case and recommended “unifocalisation & conduit” surgery, estimated at Rs 1.2 lakh.
The death comes days after an AIIMS doctor told TOI on Aug 28 that the child was “presently admitted for work-up for possible heart and lung transplant. The doctor said an earlier estimate of around Rs 1.5 lakh was probably for surgery, when the child was considered operable. Because the pulmonary artery was now absent, corrective surgery was no longer possible and a heart-lung transplant was being considered, however,.
Pariyani said he was not given a satisfactory explanation for his daughter’s death. He also said he suspected a conspiracy and wanted the circumstances leading to his daughter’s death investigated. He alleged that hospital staff repeatedly asked him for documents and, at various points, pressured him to take discharge. Pariyani has not yet taken his daughter’s body from the hospital, saying he wants answers on the circumstances surrounding her death.