Two-month-old boy succumbs to burns suffered in KEM Hospital fire: Prince Rajbhar was being treated for heart ailment in Mumbai

A two-month-old boy, who had sustained severe injuries in a fire in the intensive care unit of a municipal hospital here, died of cardiac arrest in the early hours of Friday, a civic official said.

Prince Rajbhar sustained serious burn injuries in the fire at the KEM Hospital on November 6, after which, his left arm was amputated, the official said. “Prince was put on maximum ventilator support and his condition deteriorated on Thursday night. He suffered a cardiac arrest at 2.30 am on Friday, and could not be revived,” the official said.

The baby suffered from a congenital heart ailment, and was brought to the city from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh by his financially weak parents for better treatment, the official said.

Prince’s father Pannilal Rajbhar has demanded that a post-mortem be performed on his son at government-run JJ Hospital.

Rajbhar has written a letter to Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari, alleging the civic hospital had failed to provide proper treatment to his son.

In the letter, a copy of which was sent to the dean of KEM Hospital, Rajbhar has alleged the BMC-run medical facility does not have fire safety clearances and is also not audited by the fire department. He alleged that KEM staff and doctors were not given proper fire safety training.

Prince was not provided super-speciality treatment as he was poor, Rajbhar claimed.

On 13 November, Rajbhar filed a complaint at the Bhoiwada police station, following which a case of negligence under section 338 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the hospital staff, the official said.

Earlier this week, the boy’s parents met Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Praveen Pardeshi. The BMC offered a compensation of Rs 5 lakh, which was rejected by the parents who sought long-term rehabilitation.

Stung by criticism from various quarters over the meagre payout, the country’s richest civic body on Wednesday doubled the compensation to the family to Rs 10 lakh.

At a meeting of BMC’s group leaders, it was also decided to frame a comprehensive compensation policy for victims of the civic body’s negligence.