4-year-old dies after operation at East Delhi hospital, family alleges negligence; inquiry launched: Cops

A medical board has been constituted after a four-year-old boy died at a hospital in East Delhi's Pandav Nagar on Thursday, and his family alleged medical negligence, said police.
Viraj Sharma, the child, was admitted to the SK Jain Hospital on Thursday for a minor operation, said his family. Within an hour of the hospitalisation, however, he was declared dead. 'He would have gone to Class 1 next year. They (doctors) told us it was just a 15-minute procedure,' said Viraj's father, Gaurav Sharma (39).
On May 22, doctors recommended some tests for Viraj to see if he was fit for the procedure, the family said.
The test results, his father said, were normal, and the doctors had agreed to conduct the operation. 'On May 28, the doctor told me to bring my son the next morning. On Thursday, around 8 am, I took my son to the hospital. At 8:40 am, they took him to the Operation Theater and told me that it would be done in 15 minutes,' recounted Gaurav, who works as a graphic designer at a Noida-based software company.
Gaurav waited outside the operation theatre till 9:15 am before he heard an update. 'The doctors said they have given him an injection before the operation, which has caused some reactions. They said he was breathing heavily and that his condition is critical,' said Gaurav.
Gaurav was then taken to the OT, where, he said, doctors were pumping his son's chest with electrical pumps. He was then told that Viraj had to be shifted to another hospital. 'My son's nose was bleeding, his nails were blue, and his body was cold. He was not moving at all. Still, I took him to Makar Hospital with one last hope,' he said.
At Makar Hospital, where the child was taken, after initial examination, the doctors declared him dead. A police complaint has been filed at the Pandav Nagar police station. Sharma has also written to the DCP East District office.
The police said a post-mortem was done on Friday, and the results are awaited to ascertain if it is a case of medical negligence. 'We have constituted a medical board and the inquiry will start as soon as the post-mortem results are in,' DCP (East) Abhishek Dhania said.
In a statement, Dr Ankit Jain, who was overseeing the treatment of Viraj at the SK Jain Hospital, told The Indian Express that the postmortem report was awaited to ascertain the cause of the death. 'After the inquiry, only we will know the exact reason for the death,' he said.

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