AIIMS names lab after nurse who died due to negligence

NEW DELHI: In a first, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has named one of its laboratories after a nursing officer who died at the hospital due to alleged medical negligence.
Rajbir Kaur, a nursing officer at AIIMS, was admitted at the institute last year on January 16 for a normal delivery. The labour was progressing well until 5am the following day when there was a sudden drop in Kaur’s fetal heart rate, necessitating an emergency surgery.

A probe by an internal committee found that an anesthesiologist was not present during the caesarean section operation.Instead, the job was performed by a junior resident, who neither had the experience nor was trained enough to handle such a complicated case.
The child was stillborn and Kaur went into distress due to aspiration-entry of stomach material into the respiratory tract. She died later, leading to protests by the nursing union and termination of services of a senior resident of anaesthesiology, who was on duty.
“Kaur was working in the bronchoscopy lab. She was popular among the nursing staff and faculty. Therefore, we have decided to name the lab after her. It will be formally inaugurated when the renovation is complete,” Dr Randeep Guleria, director of AIIMS told TOI.
Harish Kajla, president of the AIIMS nursing union, said they are very happy with the institute’s decision. “We had written to the administration to name one of the hospital’s block or building after Kaur,” he said.
Most buildings at AIIMS are named after leaders like Bhim Rao Ambedkar (cancer centre), Rajendra Prasad (eye centre), Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (OPD block) to name a few. AIIMS has already put a board outside the lab with Rajbir Kaur Bronchoscopy Laboratory written on it.
Here, patients undergo bronchoscopy, which is a procedure to look inside the lung airways. It can detect tumors, signs of infection, excess mucus in the airways, bleeding, or blockages in the lungs.
Bronchoscopy is also used to take samples of mucus or tissue for other laboratory tests, as well as to insert airway stents, or small tubes, to keep the airway open to treat lung problems.
It involves inserting a bronchoscope tube, with its light and small camera, through the nose or mouth, down the throat into patient’s trachea, or windpipe, and to the bronchi and bronchioles of the lungs. This procedure is used to find the cause of lung problems.