Two months after the announcement of a probe by the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) into the death of three-month-old Prince Rajbhar who died in November 2019, the process has been a non-starter, since the civic-body has failed to provide technical information to the investigating team so far.
A member of the investigative team said they had yet to begin the probe as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not submitted the documents required for the investigation. “We had conducted a preliminary meeting three days after the BMC had requested the DMER to constitute a team to investigate the Prince Rajbhar matter. But they did not submit technical details about the machinery and we wrote to the DMER director, asking him to order the BMC to immediately do so,” he said.
Dr TP Lahane, director, DMER, said the BMC is not cooperating and a letter was sent to the civic body in January, asking it to submit the required document. “Until the BMC cooperates with us, the investigation will be at a standstill,” he said.
Last December, the deputy municipal commissioner had written to the DMER, requesting a seven-member committee to investigate the death of the three-month-old baby, Prince Rajbhar, who had succumbed to burn injuries sustained in a fire at KEM hospital on November 7.
This move was initiated after the Rajbhars demanded a fair investigation into the matter, stipulating that the probe panel should not include any BMC hospital personnel.
Accordingly, the DMER had formed a seven-member team, comprising experts from forensic medicine, paediatrics, biomedical engineering, the medical superintendent of JJ hospital and two others.
Prince was admitted to the hospital for the treatment of a congenital heart defect on November 5. On November 7, an ECG cable attached to a multi-parameter monitor caught fire in the paediatric intensive care unit, causing the baby to suffer burns on his left arm, shoulder, and scalp.
Doctors had to amputate a portion of his arm to prevent infection. After battling for life for the next few weeks, the baby succumbed to septicemia shock resulting from the burns, on November 22.
