An inquiry is underway in Fiji to determine how a man who was declared dead in the nation’s main hospital was pronounced alive an hour later.

Jai Narayan, 55, of Nasinu, an outer suburb of Suva, had sought medical attention at the CWM Hospital on March 19 last year for a swelling in his genitals.

In an interview this week, Narayan recalled the day he was rushed to the hospital, seen by a doctor who took his blood pressure and injected him on his left hand several times, which he claimed made him fall into an unconsciousness state.

“I only had a hernia. The doctor pushed the needle one by one and within a minute, I yelled out loudly as my chest started to pain and my airways blocked,” he said.

He said his wife was with him that day and all he remembered was having his chest massaged before he collapsed into a coma.

It is claimed medical personnel attending to him pronounced him dead when he failed to respond after resuscitation treatment.

Narayan’s wife, Nirmala Wati, said a few minutes after her husband had received treatment, a doctor told her she must leave the ward because her husband had died.

She said she went outside to inform family members of the tragedy who were left shocked.

She said she went back into the ward awaiting preparations to take her husband’s body down to the mortuary.

“When I went inside, my husband was lying on the bed.

“I kept on looking at him and suddenly noticed some movement in his face,” Wati said.

“After one hour of being pronounced dead, his eyebrow flicked.”

In a letter of complaint to Health Minister Dr Neil Sharma dated April 22, 2013, Wati described the events leading up to her husband’s deteriorating health condition which resulted in the pronouncement of his death.

She also wrote to the Fiji Medical and Dental Secretariat expressing her concerns on how her husband was treated and the subsequent effects on his life.

It is now over a year and Wati said her husband, who used to be a fit van driver, continues to suffer from breathing and walking difficulties. Narayan said these health problems started following his treatment at CWM Hospital.

He has also approached the Small Claims Trubunal claiming for alleged medical negligence by the CWM Hospital.

He is claiming $85,000.

Fiji Medical and Dental Secretariat CEO and registrar Dharmesh Prasad confirmed receiving a complaint from Narayan.

Prasad said the matter was being investigated and it was taking time because of the complexity of the case.

He also confirmed they were talking to the doctors involved before they would be able to go back to Narayan for further consultation.