Toddler dies as oxygen mask supplies anaesthetic agent

A one-year-old boy, who became critical after his overhead mask supplied anaesthetic agent instead of oxygen during a surgery, died at the state-run Maharaja Yashwantrao (MY) Hospital here, an official said today.

This is the second such death at the facility, allegedly due to negligence, in last three days.

"Rajveer (1) died at the paediatric ICU last night," Maharaja Yeshwantraro (MY) Hospital's acting Superintendent Dr Sumit Shukla said today.

His condition had turned critical on May 28 when he was being operated upon for a deformity at the hospital's recently-inaugurated operation theatre.

As per the investigation, the pipeline that was supposed to supply oxygen to patients was carrying nitrous oxide, Shukla said.

The operation theatre, which was inaugurated on May 24, has been sealed.

On May 27, 5-year-old Ayush had died while undergoing surgery for Hernia after being supplied anaesthetic agent instead of oxygen, Shukla added.

He had said yesterday that a five-member committee of senior doctors of the hospital was constituted to probe into the two deaths and asked to submit its report to the government.

A technician from a private company, Rajendra Choudhary, who was responsible for fitting the gas supply pipeline, has been booked for manslaughter.

Activist Chinmay Mishra of Swasthya Adhikar Manch, an NGO, had described the formation of the panel as sham, saying since all the panelists are from MY Hospital they might come out with a wishy-washy report to save their colleagues.

The hospital management has lodged FIR against Chaudhary, and not against the doctor and other staffers, he claimed.