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Laboratory fined Rs. 2 lakh for diagnosing TB as cancer in Punjab

The district consumer disputes redressal forum has directed a Spiral CT & MRI Centre in Sector 44 of Chandigarh to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation and 15,000 as litigation cost to Vijay Ramola, a bank manager anda resident of Sector 22, for wrongly diagnosing with lung cancer instead of tuberculosis (TB).

Ramola, in his complaint, said he was suffering from a persistent cough for more than 15 days in 2014. He visited Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32 and doctors there suggested a CT scan of his chest. The reports pointed out abnormal growth, lymph nodes, in the lung region and hence he was advised to get a bronchoscopy test. On December 18, 2014, a report from the lab of GMCH, diagnosed as adenocarcinoma lung, that is cancer of the lung, and he was further referred to oncology department.

Spiral CT & MRI Centre conducted a PET scan test too. The report stated cancer had spread due to which bones were likely to become weak. The report had also diagnosed it to be a case of cancer stage IV. Ramola underwent three chemotherapies on January 2, 2015, January 31, 2015, and February 23, 2015 respectively. Yet, no improvement was seen. He then shifted to Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai where the doctors said a minor test of bronchoscopy and PET-CT scan had shown that stage IV lung cancer could not have been diagnosed. A biopsy test discovered it to be a case of tuberculosis. Ramola said he took treatment from a doctor in Dehradun and was healthy after taking his medicines for nine months.

After the alleged harassment, pain, suffering and mental stress he underwent on being diagnosed with cancer stage IV, he filed the complaint. The laboratory claimed that nowhere opined cancer had spread from lungs into the bones.

Source: ET Healthworld