SINGAPORE, March 13 — A consultant urologist in Singapore has been charged in court after a patient died following what prosecutors say was a surgical error during a kidney operation.

According to The Straits Times, Dr Fong Yan Kit, 54, was charged in a district court yesterday with committing a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide in connection with the death of a 63-year-old woman.

The charge stems from surgery performed at Raffles Hospital on April 29, 2022, during which Dr Fong was attempting to remove a growth from the patient’s kidney.

Court documents allege that he mistakenly severed the superior mesenteric artery and the coeliac trunk — major blood vessels supplying the stomach and bowels — instead of the renal vein.

The error caused a critical loss of blood supply to the woman’s abdominal organs. She died at the hospital three days later on May 2, 2022.

According to the documents, Dr Fong concluded the operation without verifying that he had cut the correct blood vessels.

A coroner’s inquiry into the death in November 2025 found that the patient had died as a result of the medical procedure.

State Coroner Adam Nakhoda also cited an expert report from the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, prepared by Professor Christopher Cheng.

The report said that after Dr Fong realised something had gone wrong during surgery, he paused for 13 minutes but failed to acknowledge the error or seek assistance.

“Any reasonably competent surgeon would have realised by now too many large vessels not directly related to the kidney had been ligated and transected,” Prof Cheng wrote.

“The consequences of ignoring the obvious clues and making no attempts to correct the situation while the opportunity may still exist while the patient is still in the operating theatre is incomprehensible.”

The coroner also noted that Dr Fong had not been fully forthcoming in his explanations during proceedings.

His initial medical report did not mention that he had severed the wrong arteries, while a subsequent report from Raffles Hospital “at best skirted around the fact that the coeliac trunk and the superior mesenteric artery were transected due to an identification error on the part of Dr Fong”.

The case has been adjourned to April.

According to The Straits Times, the Singapore Medical Council’s website still lists Dr Fong as a doctor practising at Raffles Hospital. The newspaper said it has contacted the council for comment.

If convicted of causing death by a negligent act, Dr Fong could face up to two years in jail, a fine, or both.