The Kerala government on Wednesday suspended a senior doctor of Manjeri Medical College Hospital in Malappuram for performing a wrong surgery on a seven-year-old boy for hernia instead of treating his nose.

The victim, Muhamad Danish, was admitted to the hospital for a surgery to remove polyps from his swollen nose. At the same time, a six-year-old boy Dhanush was also admitted to the hospital for hernia surgery. When Danish returned from the operation theatre on Tuesday with a heavy bandage on his stomach and a free nose, his parents doubted something was wrong and made inquiries with the hospital staff. They came to know about the two patients, who had similar sounding names.

There were many attempts to cover up this incident by the hospital. But his parents questioned the doctors and they informed that Danish also had a hernia problem. Fortunately, the nose surgery was not done on Dhanush. Later, both Danish and Dhanush underwent their respective surgeries without any confusion. The parents of Danish filed a complaint against the doctors.

State Health Minister K K Shailaja has ordered an inquiry regarding the incident. He said that they have suspended the doctor who performed the surgery. It is a serious error and action will be taken against more people after the inquiry report. Hospital superintendent K Nandakumar said it was a serious error and similar sounding names had led to the incident. The police also have registered a case against the doctor who performed the wrong surgery.