Hospital sweeper playing doctor accidentally chopped off child's finger before throwing it away

A shocking case of medical negligence has come to light in Rajasthan, India. In the absence of doctors and nurses, a sweeper attended to one-year-old Sadiq Khan, and chopped off the infant's finger in a government hospital in Barmer. The sweeper of the ward tried to remove an intra-cath, a device inserted in the wrist for administering intravenous fluids.



According to sources, initial efforts by the sweeper, Badri Lal, to take out the intra-cath proved futile so he tried removing it with a pair of scissors lying nearby. "He was trying to take the adhesive tapes off the intra-cath with the scissors when he chopped off the child's finger," said an official. On realizing his mistake, Badri Lal put the chopped finger in the waste basket. Later efforts to locate it proved futile.

"My child was admitted to the hospital three days back after a sudden fever. However, he recovered fast and was to be discharged last evening. It was then that we asked the hospital staff to remove the intra-cath so that Sadiq could be taken home. But fate had other things in store," said Sadiq's father Allah Rakha. "My child has been handicapped for ever. Till now the chopped finger has not been found," he added.


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Principal medical officer R K Maheshwari said that as Sadiq's parents were in a hurry to take him home, the sweeper standing there tried to remove the intra-cath and in the process chopped off the child's finger. "We have removed Badri Lal but till now the chopped finger has not been found. An investigation will be launched into the incident," he said.