Medical negligence: Sweeper accidentally cuts off infant's finger

There was a lot of hue and cry last July when it emerged that in hospitals in UP and West Bengal that were hard-pressed for staff and time sweepers, drivers and even body guards doubled up as paramedics. Experts were aghast at finding that complex medical procedures like giving injections and cutting stiches while others pointed out that it was better to have an inexperienced helping hand than no one at all.

It looks like the experts worries were justified after a recent incident of medical negligence, a sweeper accidentally cut off an infant s finger while trying to remove stitches on his hand. This incident took place in Rajasthan s Barmer district. While the sweeper was immediately sacked by the hospital, the police still haven t registered a case against him.

According to a CNN-IBN report, the incident took place when the sweeper decided to attend to the child s injury while the doctor and nurse from the hospital were absent. We had discharged the child as per the parent s request, but after the discharge they wanted to take out the stitches that were there in the child s hand. They were in a hurry and so the sweeper who was sitting nearby told them that if they were in a hurry he could take it out for them, the hospital s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) was quoted as saying. When the sweeper was attempting to take out the stitches, the child suddenly jumped due to the pain and due to that his finger got stuck in the scissors, he said.

Tragically, the sweeper failed to notice this and cut the finger off and even allegedly threw it away. The child s father said that the hospital s Chief Medical Officer has not responded to his complaint and the police too weren t helping them by not registering a case.