A Kenyan doctor has been suspended after cutting open the head of the wrong patient.
One patient needed surgery on a blood clot on the brain while the other just needed nursing for swelling, The Daily Nation reports.
But, the newspaper goes on to report that “a horror mix-up of identification tags saw the wrong man wheeled into theatre”.
The doctors did not realise the mistake “until hours into the surgery, when they discovered there was no blood clot in the brain”, the Nation adds.
Kenyatta National Hospital said it deeply regretted the mistake and suspended the doctor, reports the Standard newspaper.
But the doctor’s colleagues have protested the suspension, reports The Star, arguing it should be the person who put on the identification tag that should be punished.
The Nation goes on to report that the two patients are in good condition. It adds that the one who had a clot might not undergo surgery after all, after he improved significantly.
