6-year-old dies during eye surgery at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, parents file medical negligence complaint | Pune News
Pune: A six-year-old girl passed away during an eye procedure at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital (DMH) on Monday, leading to allegations of medical negligence. While the hospital has called the incident “extremely unfortunate” and initiated an internal inquiry, the police plan to refer the case to a medical board for expert opinion.Distressed relatives staged a protest at the hospital following the incident, demanding a high-level inquiry.Ulhas Kadam, a senior PI at Alankar Police Station, confirmed that the girl was at the hospital for a cataract-related procedure. “The child passed away around 2pm on May 18. On Tuesday, we recorded statements from the doctors and formally accepted the family’s complaint. All relevant medical documents will be sent to the medical negligence board at Sassoon General Hospital. We can only file an FIR after receiving their expert opinion,” Kadam said.The parents, who originally hail from Gondia, have since left for their hometown following the post-mortem.In an official statement, the administration of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital said, “The incident that occurred is extremely unfortunate. The hospital has initiated an internal inquiry. All relevant documents and information will be provided to the police and the Sassoon General Hospital administration. We remain committed to maintaining complete transparency and accountability.” The hospital declined further comment on specific clinical details.Dr Suryakant Devkar, assistant health officer at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) said the girl was admitted for a retina inspection. “The patient had a history of cataract surgery at age one. For this follow-up procedure, she was placed under general anesthesia. Preliminary information suggests she suffered a cardiac arrest during extubation (the removal of the breathing tube). The post-mortem was completed at Sassoon General Hospital on Tuesday morning,” Dr. Devkar said.Explaining the possible cause of cataract at such a young age, city based senior ophthalmologist Dr Anil Dudhbhate said that paediatric cataracts can be congenital or caused by infections. “It is common to operate twice in these cases. Usually, a lens cannot be implanted in a child under one year of age. Therefore, a second procedure is required when the child reaches age five or six to finally implant the lens,” Dr Dudhbhate said.
