Lanka Hospital says to fully cooperate to carry out investigations

Lanka Hospitals Director Medical Services (DMS) Dr. Wimal Karandagoda states that the hospital authorities will fully cooperate to carry out the inquiry jointly done by the Ministry of Health and Private Health Services Regulatory Council (PHSRC) with regard to the recent incident concerning diseased patient, Thilak Daluwatte.

“While extending our condolences to the family of the diseased, we assure the health authorities that there was no medical negligence on the part of the hospital that resulted in the death of the patient. However we respect the decision of the PHSRC to carry out its duty to look in to this matter further,” said Dr. Karandagoda.

“At the time of admission, the late Mr. Daluwatte’s medical records indicated that he was a high risk patient, which will not be detailed here owing to the duty of confidentiality in the code of ethics that is observed by the hospital. Prior to performing the Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG = heart bypass) surgery, the Consultant Cardio Thoracic Surgeon of Lanka Hospitals explained the condition and risks involved to the patient and obtained written consent from him and his guardian (the present complainant),” Dr. Karandagoda said.

Dr. Karandagoda also states that Lanka Hospitals has a record of performing the most number of successful cardiac surgeries in the private healthcare sector in the country with a very low mortality rate.

“The patient and the patient’s relatives were constantly kept aware of the rising hospital bill beyond the CABG package amount, due to expensive ICU and other medical procedures carried out to save the patient’s life. If the relatives requested the patient to be transferred to a Government hospital as they claim now, they would have filled specific documentation pertaining to discharges or transfers made on request and the hospital would have complied. Unfortunately there was no verbal request for discharge or transfer and no such documentation pertaining to this matter is available,” Dr. Karandagoda added.

“On Friday 11 September, the patient unfortunately died due to complications specific to the condition of the patient but not due to medical negligence. Once the death was officially announced from the hospital, the family of the diseased had internal deliberations as to who should accept the body, as the next of kin to the patient, his wife, did not come forward to receive the remains of her husband. These internal deliberations took the whole of Saturday and Sunday. On Monday 14, the late Mr. Daluwatte’s relative DaluwattePatabandige Wickramasinghe met the hospital authorities, accompanied by their legal counsel and agreed to a part payment of Rs. 500,000, to which the hospital authorities agreed. The family further requested an extended time period to pay the balance Rs. 966,259 once again to which the hospital authorities was in favor of, and offered a time period of six months. After this discussion with the hospital authorities, the patient party left the hospital and lodged a complaint with the Narahenpita Police unexpectedly, where the Police referred the case to courts. Thereafter the releasing of the body was further delayed because of the police and court proceedings,” Dr. Karandagoda elaborated.

The Director Medical Services of Lanka Hospitals concluded saying that the hospital stands by its professional commitment to offer the best possible treatment to its patients, and to conduct all its professional duties in the best interest of the patient while not charging anything more than what is reasonable and justifiable. 

He further stated thatit should be also borne in mind that the management of the hospital has a fiduciary responsibility towards its shareholders.