Sassoon should probe 6-yr-old’s death at Deenanath Mangeshkar hosp: PMC panel

Pune: The five-member expert panel appointed by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to probe the death of six-year-old Priyanshi Bagde at the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital (DMH) during an eye treatment has said the hospital did not take essential scans before treating the girl and the Sassoon General Hospital should investigate the case further.The panel said X-ray, ECG and 2D Echo were not done and the post-operative blood results of the girl suggested she had a bleeding disorder. It also said the cause of death could not be determined without Sassoon’s post-mortem report.PMC assistant health officer Dr Suryakant Devkar said, “We have received the report from the committee formed for preliminary investigation into the girl’s death. It has recommended that the Sassoon hospital’s experts investigate further. We will forward the report to the state health department, on whose instructions the civic panel was formed.”Priyanshi’s parents are daily wage workers and the family hails from Gondia. They had come to the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital for an eye evaluation procedure, following which the girl coughed up blood and was declared dead within a few hours on May 18. Her parents filed a complaint with the city police and the PMC formed a committee to investigate the matter.The hospital responded to TOI’s queries and said tests like X-ray, ECG and 2D Echo are not performed unless recommended. The hospital administration’s statement said: “The patient was posted only for examination under anaesthesia and not any surgery. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the American Society of Anaesthesia does not recommend ECG, Echo or chest X-ray for surgical procedures in a non-cardiac disease in children, unless specified. A pediatrician examined the patient for fitness. Her heart and lungs functioning was normal. She had already been operated for cataract surgery under GA before, so there was no question of any bleeding disorder.”Sassoon medical superintendent Dr Yallapa Jadhav said, “At present, post-graduation exams for medical students are going on and our senior doctors are busy with the same. However, we have received the letter from the police to give an expert opinion and we will form a panel in the coming days.”