CHENNAI: Despite best efforts and treatment, a one-and-a-half-year-old child, Mohammed Mahir, who was treated for bleeding in the brain and related complications died in Chennai on Sunday, senior government doctors said.
The child was a "premature baby" and bleeding in the brain resulted in increase in the size of the head. To drain the accumulated fluid, a (shunt tube) tube was inserted when the child was 5-month old.
In a statement, the Director of Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children and Dean, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) said the child was admitted at RGGGH on June 25, 2023 following spontaneous expulsion of the tube used for draining fluid.
The child underwent "emergency shunt tube reinsertion on the same day." Post-operatively, the child developed decreased blood supply to the right arm and as a life saving measure the right limb had to be removed on July 2.
A multidisciplinary team of specialist doctors, including a neurosurgeon, treated the child. However, the toddler continued to have infection despite appropriate higher level of antibiotics.
Despite the best of all treatment measures, the health of the child deteriorated. The toddler succumbed to his illness on Sunday, the doctors said in the statement.
The amputation of the child's arm led to outrage in social media and government doctors have all along maintained that correct and timely treatment was given to the toddler.
(With PTI inputs)
