Surgeon's computers sealed

File picture of Dileepan Raj with his parents

Chennai, June 24: The team investigating charges that a surgeon allowed his 15-year-old son to perform a Caesarean section has sealed the computer system at Dr K. Murugesan’s nursing home.

Murugesan, chasing a place in Guinness World Records, is reported to have shown off a video of his son Dileepan Raj performing the surgery at a meeting of the local chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on May 6.

The Tiruchirappalli district administration ordered a probe headed by a revenue divisional officer on Thursday, soon after the news broke, possibly leaked by a local doctor who was at the screening.

Murugesan has since denied that Dileepan performed the surgery, claiming the teenager only watched his parents do the Caesarean section (his mother Gandhimathi is a gynaecologist) at the Mathi Surgical and Maternity Nursing Home they own at Manapparai, near Tiruchirappalli.

The inquiry is centred on the official letters of complaint that members of the IMA’s Manapparai branch wrote to the state IMA after the screening, as well as their testimony to the investigating team.

The doctors have reported that Murugesan had a CD of the surgery that he screened at the IMA meeting, using the laptop computer and projector provided for a lecture demonstration.

They said the surgeon wanted his son to enter the Guinness World Records as the youngest to perform a surgery. The laptop was hired by the IMA for the meeting.

While Murugesan has flatly denied he has any such CD, the inquiry team believes there would have to be either a “CD or some other device” from which the video was run on the laptop and that the computer system at the nursing home could provide a clue.

The report of the inquiry team, which includes two medical officers, is due anytime, district collector Ashish Vachhani said.

The patient, Neela, is related to the doctors and has not filed any complaint and attempts to trace her have failed.

IMA call

The Tamil Nadu branch of the IMA today adopted a resolution appealing to the state chapter of the Indian Medical Council to take action against Murugesan, adds PTI. Secretary Ravishankar said the executive committee would meet in July-end or early August to decide on the cancellation of Murugesan’s membership.

Doctors who were at the May 6 IMA meeting stand by their claim that a video of the teenager performing the surgery was screened, he said.

“We are waiting for the government’s report after the ongoing inquiry into the incident is over. But we are of the firm view that the errant doctors should be punished,” he said. If the allegations are proved, Murugesan and Gandhimathi could be debarred from practising medicine.