2-month-old, who suffered burn injuries in Mumbai’s KEM hospital, dies

The infant’s condition had deteriorated to ‘very critical’ on Thursday and doctors at Mumbai’s KEM hospital where he was being treated, had said that the next 48 hours would be vital for him.

Two-month-old Prince Pannelal Rajbhar, who had sustained 22% burn injuries in an accident at Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, died early morning on Friday.

The infant was brought to the KEM hospital for treatment in the first week of November after he was diagnosed with congenital heart disease and pneumonia in his home town Varanasi. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

“The child was critical and kept on maximum ventilator support. His condition deteriorated further during night when he suffered from a cardiac arrest at 2.30am. Despite repeated attempts, we couldn’t revive him and he died at around 2.45am, said Dr Hemant Deshmukh, dean of KEM hospital.

The infant’s condition had deteriorated to ‘very critical’ on Thursday and doctors had said that the next 48 hours would be vital for him. Doctors had noticed blood in the endotracheal tube which could indicate internal bleeding. “The child has been on three cardiac drugs to maintain blood pressure. He requires high ventilator settings to maintain oxygen saturation up to 95%. His breathing is not good,” Dr Deshmukh had said.

Talking to HT, Prince’s father, Pannelal Rajbhar said, “I was sleeping outside when a nurse called me around 3 am to inform that he has expired. We knew that this is coming because since yesterday, he hadn’t even opened his eyes.”

Prince was brought to the KEM hospital in the first week of November after he was diagnosed with congenital heart disease and pneumonia in his home town Varanasi.He was kept on oxygen support in the paediatric ICU and ECG nodes were attached to his chest. In the early morning hours of November 7, the nodes of the ECG machine caught fire due to a short circuit that burnt the left-side of his hand and face. On November 11, Prince’s left arm had to be amputated to prevent infection from spreading further.

The body has been shifted for post mortem. The family has decided to perform his last rites in Mumbai.