Toddler dies as oxygen mask supplies anaesthetic agent

Indore, May 30 () A one-year-old boy, who becamecritical after his overhead mask supplied anaesthetic agentinstead of oxygen during a surgery, died at the state-runMaharaja Yashwantrao (MY) Hospital here, an official saidtoday.This is the second such death at the facility, allegedlydue to negligence, in last three days."Rajveer (1) died at the paediatric ICU last night,"Maharaja Yeshwantraro (MY) Hospital's acting SuperintendentDr Sumit Shukla said today.His condition had turned critical on May 28 when hewas being operated upon for a deformity at the hospital'srecently-inaugurated operation theatre.As per the investigation, the pipeline that wassupposed to supply oxygen to patients was carrying nitrousoxide, Shukla said.The operation theatre, which was inaugurated on May24, has been sealed.On May 27, 5-year-old Ayush had died while undergoingsurgery for Hernia after being supplied anaesthetic agentinstead of oxygen, Shukla added.He had said yesterday that a five-member committeeof senior doctors of the hospital was constituted toprobe into the two deaths and asked to submit its report tothe government.A technician from a private company, RajendraChoudhary, who was responsible for fitting the gas supplypipeline, has been booked for manslaughter.Activist Chinmay Mishra of Swasthya Adhikar Manch, anNGO, had described the formation of the panel as sham, sayingsince all the panelists are from MY Hospital they might comeout with a wishy-washy report to save their colleagues.The hospital management has lodged FIR againstChaudhary, and not against the doctor and other staffers, heclaimed. HWP LAL NSKUZM