AIIMS, New Delhi has issued a written apology to a patient for a case of medical negligence and has decided to set up a Patient Safety Cell for patient welfare.

Confirming an incident of medical negligence in February, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on April 6 said a corrective treatment was carried out and the hospital has tendered a written apology to the patient. Also, the hospital has decided to set up a Patient Safety Cell that will perform a set of activities to ensure the safety of patients. "Instead of the scheduled operation, another minor surgery was performed on her (patient) and this was realised immediately after the surgery," said AIIMS Media and Protocol Division Chairperson Aarti Vij in a statement.

"The patient was informed and a corrective procedure was carried out," she said, adding that the incident was reported to the Medical Superintendent and a preliminary inquiry confirmed the occurrence. On February 7, a senior doctor at AIIMS carried out a surgery required for dialysis treatment on a 30-year-old woman who had come with a complain of abdominal pain.

"A written apology was sent to the patient. Her husband was personally contacted by the Head of the Surgical Unit and offered any additional treatment," said Vij. The committee that was set up to probe the incident would also determine penalties to be imposed and corrective measures to be taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the future. Instructions were issued for strict implementation of Surgical Safety Checklist in all operation theatres of AIIMS.

The proposed Patient Safety Cell will be the focal point for coordination and implementation of patient safety programme and initiatives, and provide technical support to various departments and centres. The cell will also look into capacity development of various cadres of healthcare personnel in patient safety and management of data related to patient safety, including medical errors and adverse event. "Besides, it will also perform root cause analysis to further improve the quality of care being provided," said the hospital.