By Deepak Tijori 
MUMBAI: Bhoiwada police have registered an FIR against KEM Hospital in the case of two-month-old Prince Rajbhar who lost an arm after suffering burn injuries at the hospital’s pediatric ICU last week.
The incident also caused an uproar in the BMC’s standing committee on Wednesday where corporators across parties demanded hefty compensation for the infant and action against the hospital dean and staffers for negligence.
Bhoiwada police said they have registered an FIR under Section 338 of the Indian Penal Code for causing grievous hurt by an act endangering the life or personal safety of others. The section attracts a maximum sentence of two years’ jail.
“We have recorded the statements of the doctors, hospital staffers and the parents. We are now waiting for reports from the fire brigade, BSES and the hospital dean. We will fix responsibility once we have all the findings,” said Vinod Kamble, senior inspector of Bhoiwada police station.
It is learnt that the ECG machine that malfunctioned and caused the short-circuit has been sent for forensic analysis. BMC officials have maintained that the ECG machine was serviced only two months ago and was in use since 2017.
At the civic standing committee meeting, BJP’s Sion corporator Rajeshree Shirwadkar said, “The baby has his entire life ahead of him. Under such circumstances, the BMC should compensate the family adequately to secure his future.”
Echoing her, BJP corporator and now MP Manoj Kotak said, “Action should be taken against the dean of the hospital. The administration should also carry out an electrical audit of all equipment in civic hospitals.”
Shiv Sena’s Vishakha Raut said, “This is an unpardonable error on part of the hospital staff and the BMC needs to pull up those who have been negligent.”
Additional municipal commissioner Ashwini Joshi, though, said there was no policy to grant compensation in such cases.
“In the third minute following the incident, the boy was pulled out and wrapped in a blanket. The hospital has been attending to the child and I have been informed his condition is improving. An inquiry has already been initiated and we are expecting a report in one week,” said Joshi. In August this year, though, the BMC had proposed to pay compensation to the families of the 31 deceased and injured in the Malad wall collapse tragedy.
Sources said the civic body can make an exception when the house of the corporators makes a demand.
Pannelal Rajbhar, Prince’s father who is a farmer, remained oblivious to all the uproar surrounding his son’s health situation and demands for compensation. “We only want him to recover and come out of ventilator at this moment,” he said.
Dr Mukesh Agarwal, head of paediatrics at KEM, said, “Though the child is on ventilator, his oxygen dependence has reduced. He is stable and improving.”
Dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh said, “He is maintaining his heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and other vital parameters.”