On February 18, Nirmal Kaur visited the campus hospital of PAU for routine health check-up and the doctor had advised her few tests. The report suggested that her serum creatinine level was high at 1.2 mg/dl (normal range 0.5-1.1) and accordingly her medication was started.

She was taking medicines regularly and again visited the hospital in March, May and July. In July, the doctor asked her to repeat the tests. The report of July 8^th showed that the creatinine level has increased drastically to 3.7 mg/dl and urea level has also increased to 72 mg/dl (normal range 10.00 to 50.00). Her reports suggested some serious kidney problem as the creatinine level was increasing despite medication. Hence, her son thought of getting the tests done from another laboratory to cross-check. On July 12, he got the tests done from a private laboratory, which showed his mother’s creatinine level at 0.78 mg/dl and urea at 40.50 mg/dl (all within the prescribed limits).

Jaswinder Singh, son of Nirmal Kaur, said that he went to the PAU campus hospital with the reports of the private laboratory to know about the difference, but doctors told him that they don’t accept the reports of the private laboratory and asked him to go to the DMCH for second opinion on the reports given by the PAU hospital. On July 15, they went to the DMCH and got the tests done, which also suggested that the creatinine and urea level of his mother were within the prescribed limits at 0.71 mg/dl and 48.0 mg/dl, respectively.

He said that he had undergone mental stress after seeing the PAU hospital reports. The treatment of his mother could have proved fatal for her. After all the facts were cleared, he tried to bring the same to the notice of the PAU authorities and wrote a letter to the Vice-Chancellor on July 17, seeking a reply but he have received no reply so far despite sending a reminder letter on August 9.

Dr RS Sidhu said that the matter was brought to their notice through a letter received by the university. They have asked the doctor concerned and investigation is being done and action will be taken accordingly. At times, it is not possible to respond to all letters personally, but every matter is certainly looked into and queried by the university.

Dr Daljit Singh Punni said that the tests at the PAU are done by auto analyser and are fine of all other patients. In this specific case, the first test was repeated after four days and second test was repeated after three days. The day Nirmal Kaur came she was de-hydrated, which affected the result of the test. The tests were repeated on different days and it can be possible that the results can differ. They referred the patient to a hospital, which has a nephrologist so that proper care could be taken since they do not have specialists. Tests were done on different days and under different circumstances due to which the results of the reports can be different.          

Patient Nirmal Kaur claimed that the test reports of the diagnostic laboratory of Punjab Agricultural University campus hospital could have landed her into trouble had she not sought second opinion.