Mumbai: Three-month-old Prince Rajbhar, who had sustained severe burns after a fire broke out in the intensive care unit of the King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital on November 6, died of the septicemic shock (spread of infection which causes organ failure) following, superficial to deep thermal burns early on Friday, a civic official said.
Additional municipal chief Pravin Darade described the death of infant Prince Rajbhar as an accident at the standing committee meet on Friday.
This incensed the members, who unanimously slammed the civic body for its negligence and irresponsible attitude, which they felt, had resulted in the baby’s death.
They sought a third-party inquiry for a fair investigation of the incident and the suspension of the dean of KEM, Hemant Deshmukh and other staff on duty at the time of the fire.
Leader of the opposition Ravi Raja said the incident occurred due to the negligence of the hospital administration and now, the civic authorities are calling it an accident.
“This shows the irresponsible attitude of the administration. People from distant places come to civic hospitals for treatment in Mumbai. But this incident has maligned the reputation of the hospital.”
Raja demanded that a panel of private doctors be set up to investigate the incident and the cause of the baby’s death.
BJP corporator Prabhakar Shinde asked, “Without any post mortem, how can the dean declare the boy died of cardiac arrest? We need to know the exact cause of the death. Was it due to the burns or because of cardiac arrest? At the next meeting, we want to see the post-mortem report.”
Prince Rajbhar suffered from a congenital heart ailment and his family had come from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, seeking better treatment for their child, according to civic officials.
Earlier this week, the boy’s parents met BMC chief Praveen Pardeshi. The BMC offered a compensation of Rs5 lakh, which was rejected by the parents, who sought long-term rehabilitation.
After drawing flak from the group leaders over the BMC decision to pay Rs5 lakh as compensation, on Wednesday, it doubled it to Rs10 lakh. At a meeting of the BMC’s group leaders, it was decided to frame a comprehensive compensation policy for victims of the body’s negligence.
