KEM Hospital mishap: 2-month-old infant’s arm amputated

The two-month-old, being treated at Mumbai’s KEM Hospital for a severe heart condition, suffered 22% burns to the right side of his face and body on Wednesday, after the nodes of an electrocardiogram (ECG) machine caught fire owing to a short-circuit in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the paediatric ward.

The right arm of two-month-old Prince Pannelal Rajbhar, who sustained 22% burns in an accident at King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, was amputated on Monday evening, to prevent the infection from spreading further. The family is now contemplating filing a police complaint against the hospital for negligence.

The family of the infant is now contemplating filing a police complaint against the KEM hospital for negligence. (Bhushan Koyande/HT File Photo)

“Prince has been operated for amputation of upper arm and he will be returning to Intensive Paediatric Care Unit shortly. He has been kept on high antibiotics,” said Dr Hemant Deshmukh, dean of KEM Hospital.

The family, however, claims that they were not informed about the surgery until evening. His uncle, Sitaram Rajbhar, has accused the hospital for keeping the family in dark. “We were told that the child was recovering. We weren’t informed that they would amputate his hand. We are regretting not filing a police complaint earlier, but we will do it now. The hospital has spoiled our child’s life,” he said.

Meanwhile, the hospital’s plastic surgeons are yet to decide on the grafting of the child’s right ear. “We need to establish the impact of the burn on the nerves and muscles of the ears before reaching a conclusion,” a plastic surgeon from the hospital said.

On November 3, Prince, who has a congenital heart disease and was suffering from pneumonia, was brought from Varanasi and admitted to KEM Hospital. He was kept on oxygen support in the paediatric ICU and ECG nodes were attached to his chest. On November 6, around 2.15am, a short-circuit melted the nodes, burning the right side of his body.