A one-and-a-half-month-old infant undergoing treatment for pneumonia at Indore’s Maharaja Yashwantrao (MY) Hospital had his thumb accidentally severed when a nurse attempted to remove a cannula, prompting disciplinary action and an administrative inquiry at Madhya Pradesh’s largest state-run medical facility.
Hospital authorities said the incident occurred on Wednesday inside the paediatric ward. Dean of MGM Medical College, Dr Arvind Ghanghoria, who also oversees MY Hospital, said the baby had been recovering after ventilator support when the nurse used scissors to cut away an adhesive bandage securing an IV line. “While removing the venflon, the child’s thumb was accidentally severed,” he said.
Doctors immediately shifted the infant to the Super Speciality Hospital, where a surgical team successfully reattached the thumb. The child, now off ventilation, is stable.
Dr Ghanghoria said the nurse has been suspended for negligence. Three senior nurses supervising the ward will have their one-month salaries docked for failing to ensure proper oversight. He said he directed the hospital superintendent to form a committee to examine how the lapse took place and submit its findings within 24 hours.
The inquiry panel is headed by Superintendent Dr Ashok Yadav and includes paediatrician Dr Nirbhay Mehta, Deputy Superintendent Dr Rohit Baderia and Nursing Superintendent Dayavati Dayal. Statements of staff on duty are being recorded.
MY Hospital, a 3,000-bed tertiary centre central to public healthcare in the state, has faced scrutiny before. It was in headlines last year after two newborns died in the neonatal unit in an incident initially linked to rat bites. Post-mortem findings later pointed to complications of prematurity, according to hospital officials.
