3-year-old admitted for dental surgery dies in Thrissur; relatives allege medical negligence

Thrissur: Relatives of a three-and-a-half-year-old boy have alleged grievous medical negligence after the toddler died at the Malankara Medical Mission Hospital near Kunnamkulam in Thrissur district, after undergoing pulpectomy on Tuesday morning.

The deceased Aron is the son of Kevin and Felja from Paramel House in Thrissur's Mundur around 12 km away from the hospital. The toddler was admitted to the facility on Monday evening for undergoing pulpectomy, a dental procedure similar to root canal in which all the pulp in the pulp chamber and root canal of a tooth is removed.

The child was taken for the surgery by 6.15 on Tuesday morning. The surgery was over by 8.15 am and he was shifted to the post-operative observation room. However by 11.15 am, the child became unconscious as the cardiac activities became negative. Though the child was rushed to the ICU, his life could not be saved. His death was declared by 12.20 pm.

The relatives of the child alleged that the hospital authorities informed them of the boy's death all of a sudden, but failed to intimate them about the complications which developed post-surgery. They also demanded an arrest of the doctors who treated Aron.

While the relatives of the boy alleged that there was grievous medical negligence from the part of the hospital authorities, the administrative officer and PRO of the hospital Dixon CS told Onmanorama that the child died due to cardiac arrest. “The surgery went really well and the child was responding very positively to the post-operative recovery. However, his cardiac activities became negative after nearly three hours. The body has been taken to the Thrissur medical college hospital for postmortem,” said Dixon.

Following the incident, the Youth Congress workers led by its block level leaders have started protesting in the hospital premises.