Rajini, 38, lives with her parents and 8-year-old daughter. (Express) Rajini, 38, lives with her parents and 8-year-old daughter. (Express)

A Kerala woman, wrongly diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, is struggling to get her life back on track. The 38-year-old, who underwent one round of chemotherapy, lost her hair and is slowly recovering from from the side effects.

Rajini, who is divorced, lives with her parents, who keep poor health, and her eight-year-old daughter, and she is the sole bread-winner of her family.

Her misfortunes began in February, when she noticed a small lump on her right breast. A native of Alappuzha district’s Palamel, she consulted a local hospital, and then went to the surgery department at the Government Medical College, Kottayam.

On February 28, Rajini was advised to undergo a mammogram test at private diagnostic centre. As the result indicated malignancy in the lump, she was asked for a true-cut needle biopsy, and one sample was sent to the pathology lab at the medical college, while another sample was taken to a private lab. Within a week, the biopsy result from the private lab also indicated she had cancer. Soon, the case was transferred to the surgical oncology department. Based on the results from two private labs, the oncology department started treatment, and on March 19, Rajini was administered the first course of chemotherapy.

However, after the first round, Rajini got the results from the pathology department, which ruled out breast cancer. “As requested by the doctors, I took the tissue slides and blocks from the private lab and submitted the same with the hospital’s pathology department. These tests also ruled out cancer,” she said.

On April 9, she went to the medical college for a second course of chemotherapy, but when she showed the results of the pathology lab, the doctors sent her back without treatment.

“I was told that my case would be discussed at a doctors’ conference the next day, and I would be informed. However, even after the conference, nobody informed me about its outcome. Three times I had gone to the surgical oncology department to meet the doctor who had treated me. Those at the general surgery department continued to consider me a cancer patient. Again, the slides from the private lab were tested at the hospital pathology lab, which once again ruled out cancer,” Rajani said. She also got herself tested at the Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, which ruled out cancer. However, though Rajini was shuttling between labs and hospitals, the lump remained unattended. “It was removed on May 23 only after it got ruptured…” she said.

Rajini has registered a complaint with the police as well as the state health department. “I lost my health. I have been the only bread winner of the family. I would be able to go for work only after six months,” she said.

Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja said she has ordered a high-level probe into the incident. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government would provide all assistance to Rajini.

Meanwhile, Dr Ranjin R P, an associate professor at the medical college that referred Rajini to the oncology department, said, “Test results from the pathology lab are normally delayed by one month. Hence, we started the treatment soon after getting the result from the private labs. There was no deliberate lapse on the part of doctors…”

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