Chennai: Protests as India teen footballer dies after surgery

Protests have erupted in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu after a teen footballer allegedly died due to a botched-up knee surgery.

Priya, 17, died on Tuesday, days after she underwent surgery for a ligament tear in her right knee.

Officials say that she died from multi-organ failure that arose due to post-surgery complications.

Two doctors who performed the surgery were suspended after an inquiry found them guilty of medical negligence.

The police have registered a case of “unnatural death” in connection with the incident.

Priya’s family has demanded that the doctors be arrested.

Doctors then put a tourniquet – a tight compression bandage – on her leg and prescribed pain medication.

But her condition worsened a day later and she was shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, a major state-run hospital in the city.

The hospital ran tests and found that the tissues in her limb were dead and that her leg would need to be amputated.

After the amputation, her condition deteriorated further. She had another surgery on 14 November and died a day later from organ failure.

The teen’s death has sparked outrage in Tamil Nadu, prompting the state government to order an inquiry.

“The surgery was fine but the compression bandage was put so tight that it stopped blood circulation,” he told reporters, adding that this affected blood flow in her leg, causing her veins to decay.

Tamil Nadu’s chief minister MK Stalin has announced monetary compensation for Priya’s family and a government job for one of her family members.

Agencies