Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent and a practicing neurosurgeon, clarified yesterday that he did perform brain surgery on a 14-year-old girl following the earthquake in Nepal in April but acknowledged he may have misidentified the patient as being eight-year-old, according to a post on the CNN website.
"We are trying to independently verify exactly which child it was," Gupta said on CNN's "New Day".
Gupta had travelled to Nepal in the days following the earthquake to cover the devastating natural calamity and had operated on a girl on April 27 at Kathmandu's Bir Hospital.
The Global Press Journal reported that according to the girl's family and doctors, Salina Dahal was never operated on.
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Instead, Gupta had operated on 14-year-old Sandhya Chalise.
CNN rallied behind Gupta, saying he had the network's support and that it was proud of his or.
Gupta has our "full and unequivocal support," CNN said in a statement.
"Some reporting has suggested it was not the young girl we, at the time of our own reporting in the midst of the crisis, believed her to be. We will try to verify that."
It said Gupta had spent a week in Nepal, "helped save a young life in the operating room, and we couldn't be prouder of him."
Gupta's medical assistance, particularly in disaster zones, is sometimes shown on the network's newscasts.
CNN had provided video to Global Press Journal more than a week ago that showed Gupta's role in the surgery, contradicting the initial claim that he hadn't helped at all.