By The Hindu Bureau
Copyright thehindu
A State-level apex body, which was checking whether medical negligence had occurred in a case wherein a 31-year-old woman who had undergone liposuction in a private cosmetic clinic in the city had to amputate her fingers following complications, has submitted its expert opinion report on August 23.
The said report would soon be handed over to the police officer leading the criminal investigation into the case, which had been registered as crime number 353/2025 in the Thumba police station, Health Minister Veena George informed the Assembly in a written answer on Tuesday.
The question regarding the investigation into the case had been raised by Manjalamkuzhi Ali, T.V. Ibrahim, A.K.M. Ashraf, and U.A. Latheef.
The incident, which took place in February this year, had raised a furore over how a cosmetic surgery such as liposuction could have gone so wrong and about the safety of cosmetic procedures, which seemed to have been taken over from plastic surgeons by people including dentists, dermatologists as well as those running “beauty clinics,” who may not possess the right qualifications.
The incident
The woman, Neethu, a software engineer by profession, had undergone the liposuction procedure as a day surgery at Cosmetiq clinic at Kazhakuttam on February 22. Two days later, on February 24, she was rushed back to the clinic with serious complications and later shifted to the ICU of a private hospital. She had to be treated for over three weeks at the private hospital, during which doctors had to amputate several of her fingers, which had turned gangrenous as infection spread, as a life-saving measure
The case records had been handed over by the police to a district-level expert panel in May to determine if any medical negligence had occurred, as was alleged by the woman’s family. The panel pointed out that the woman, who had developed systemic complications, had been kept in the Cosmetiq clinic from 9.30 a.m. on February 24 and given IV fluids, oxygen, albumin infusion and blood transfusion till 7 p.m. and that she was shifted to a higher centre only when her condition worsened.
The panel opined that “she could have been referred early to a higher centre for further care and treatment.”
Lost fingers
However, it could not reach a definitive conclusion “whether the above delay is negligence or not and whether the delay potentially worsened the patient’s condition which led to her losing nine of her fingers by amputation.”
Ms. George clarified that the case was then handed over to a State-level apex body to determine if there was medical negligence in the said case.
She said that the Kerala Clinical Establishments (KCE) registration of Cosmetiq clinic had been suspended by the KCE Council on May 10, as it found that the clinic performed liposuction, a procedure which had not been mentioned anywhere in the documents submitted to the KCE Council for obtaining the registration.
Ms. George clarified that all clinical establishments, including cosmetic clinics, were given permanent registration by KCE Council after a group of assessors evaluate the establishment’s human resources as stipulated under the prescribed minimum standards. Dermatologists who give cosmetology services should have certificates for the same, acquired from government-approved institutions.
She said that no “beauty clinic” was permitted to offer chemical or laser treatments unless it had a certified dermatologist in service. “Beauty clinics” also cannot perform liposuction/lipolysis without a plastic surgeon in attendance, Ms. George said.
