Ghost surgery in Hyderabad hospitals raises concerns over patient consent and accountability
Ghost surgery, in which an unauthorised substitute allegedly performs an operation while the patient is under anaesthesia, has raised concerns over consent and accountability. Public health commentators are calling for stricter rules, transparent records and protected reporting mechanisms in hospitals.
Hyderabad: Imagine walking into a corporate hospital in Hyderabad, placing complete trust on a renowned surgeon with decades of experience. You sign the paperwork, then wheeled into the operation theatre, slowly drifting into unconsciousness under the influence of anesthesia, secure in the belief that the renowned surgeon’s hands will work magic.
Instead, once the theatre doors close and the patient is unaware, the celebrity surgeon steps away, often rushing across town to another corporate healthcare facility, leaving an unconsented junior substitute or a team member to perform the actual procedure.
Although seldom reported, the unsettling reality of ‘ghost surgery’, which is unauthorized substitution of a surgical operator when the patient is under anesthesia, due to lack of regulation, does take place in private hospitals in Hyderabad and other urban centres.
Such practices are always discussed in whispers but due to lack of regulation and reporting mechanisms, ghost surgeries are seldom reported but are deeply entrenched in the private health care sector.
A recent perspective paper published in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics (IJME) has laid bare the mechanics of this practice, warning that structural vulnerabilities in private healthcare are allowing unauthorized substitutions to occur with alarming impunity.
Public health commentators in Hyderabad, on condition of anonymity, point out that the practice of ghost surgeries are not an isolated act but the result of present-day modern corporate medical business models.
“Corporate hospitals market star surgeons to attract high-volume patient footfalls and secure lucrative surgical packages. But a single human being cannot physically be in two operating theatres at once. To maximize revenue, hospitals encourage star surgeons to span multiple facilities in a single day, relying on shadow teams to complete the procedures,” explains a senior public health official in Hyderabad.
The patient and their relatives are helpless because they sign a consent form with multiple legal loopholes. By signing on the dotted line, the patients , inadvertently permit ‘the surgeon and their team’ to carry out the operation.
With the entire administration of the hospital based on hierarchy, there is a culture of silence ingrained among the care givers at every level, individuals familiar with the issue, said.
Public health experts have pointed out that while State Medical Councils go all out to curb the practice of quackery but hardly any measures to tackle the issue of ghost surgeries.
What can be done to curb the practice of ghost surgeries?
NMC must prohibit substitution in the absence of specific, re-confirmed patient consent.
Consent forms must mandate named-surgeon identification for every critical phase of an operation’
Ghost surgery must be formally classified as a severe form of professional misconduct.
Mandatory tracking systems like digital records that clearly identify every individual who performed a surgical step.
Hospitals must institute anonymous, protected reporting mechanisms for nursing and paramedical staff to flag substitution without fear of career retaliation.
Mandatory pre-operative briefings confirming the operating surgeon’s identity
