A 15-year-old girl died at AIIMS Delhi after a long wait for corrective heart surgeryNEW DELHI: A 15-year-old girl from Kota, who had been visiting AIIMS Delhi from the age of two for a complex congenital heart defect, died in the hospital early Tuesday, 14 days after TOI reported her family’s long wait for corrective heart surgery. Tanvi was admitted to AIIMS about two weeks ago.

TOI had reported on Aug 18 that she had been making the rounds of AIIMS for over 13 years, with her father alleging that surgery dates were fixed and later changed but the corrective procedure was never done. Her father, Mukesh Pariyani, said Tanvi was admitted after discussions with doctors and was being evaluated for a possible transplant.

Doctors sought several documents and investigations, including a heart evaluation. Asked about her death, Dr V Devagourou, professor and head of the department of CTVS, CT Centre, said that Tanvi was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect (VSD) with pulmonary atresia in 2012 and evaluated for surgery in 2013.

He said “surgery was ruled out in 2018 and she was subsequently managed medically. She was admitted on Aug 24 for evaluation for a possible heart-lung transplant.”

He said that Tanvi underwent an endoscopy Monday as part of the transplant work-up. 50 am, Tuesday, she complained of fatigue and weakness and became cyanotic, with her oxygen saturation falling to 48%.

30 am and subsequently suffered a hypoxic spell resulting in cardiac arrest. 06am.”

Neither AIIMS, nor the doctors responded to TOI’s specific question on why the surgery was not conducted after her 2013 evaluation and what led to it being ruled out in 2018. Tanvi was first taken to AIIMS in 2012.

2 lakh. The family alleged that surgery dates, fixed in 2015, eventually did not materialise.

Pariyani said an endoscopy was performed around 7 pm on Monday and that his daughter’s condition deteriorated later that night. 30 am Tuesday, he said.

The death comes days after an AIIMS doctor told TOI on Aug 28 that the child was “presently admitted for work-up for possible heart and lung transplant.” 5 lakh was probably for surgery, when the child was considered operable.

However, because the pulmonary artery was now absent, corrective surgery was no longer possible and a heart-lung transplant was being considered. Records show that she remained under follow-up.