Siliguri, Dec. 12: The relatives of a patient have filed a police complaint against the nursing home where he died today, alleging he was operated on the right side of the head instead of the left.

The authorities of Dr Chhang’s Super Speciality Hospital have denied the charges and said the operation was conducted on the left side but the confusion occurred because of a typo in the medical report.

Gopal Chandra Das said his brother Sujit Das was admitted to the nursing home after he received a head injury when he fell into a drain from his bicycle on Wednesday.

“We shifted him to Dr Chhang’s nursing home on Thursday from Siliguri District Hospital. The doctors conducted an operation that very day and he was shifted to the ICU. They also said his condition had improved. But we received a call from the nursing home around 11 last night, saying Sujit’s condition was deteriorating. We reached the hospital in half an hour and my brother died around 2am,” said Gopal.

“The medical report that we got today for submission to the police said a surgery had been conducted on the right side. But the doctors had told us that the left side of his brain was operated on. My brother died because of the negligence of surgeons. If he was recovering, how could he die suddenly?” Das said.

Under government norms, all health establishments, in case of deaths of accident victims, had to send complete medical reports to the police station, detailing the nature of injury and the treatment.

Deputy mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation Ranjan Sil Sharma also visited the nursing home and met Sujit’s family members.

W.H. Chhang, a neurosurgeon and owner of the nursing home said, Sujit’s was brought in a critical condition. “We tried our best for him but failed.”

“The patient had suffered subdural hematoma (haemorrhage caused by collection of blood on the surface of the brain) on the left side of his head. The operation was also conducted on the left side. But one of our office executives made a typo. He wrote the operation was done on the right side. That was the cause of the confusion. We have already sent a corrigendum to the police station,” said Chhang. The police said they were investigating the charges.

The body has been sent for post-mortem to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.