2-Year-Old Boy Dies After Hospital Sweeper Gives Him Wrong Injection

A toddler has died after a sweeper at a nursing home where the child was hospitalized for fever allegedly administered him a wrong injection.

The incident happened Wednesday at an unregistered nursing home in Baiganwadi, in the suburbs of the Indian city of Mumbai. The police have booked four hospital staff including a doctor, a nurse, a Resident Medical Officer and the 17-year-old sweeper for allegedly giving the 2-year-old child an injection that was meant for another patient, Hindustan Times reported.

Taha Azeem Khan, the 2-year-old boy, was hospitalized at the facility since Jan. 12 with fever symptoms. The child was supposed to be discharged from the nursing home on the day the alleged mix-up happened, according to reports.

On Wednesday, a doctor at the facility, identified as Altaf Khan, 29, instructed the Resident Medical Officer (RMO) to administer a 16-year-old patient with Arithromycin, an antibiotic drug used to treat bacterial infections. However, the RMO who was unavailable during that time reportedly told a nurse to administer the shot. When the nurse did not pay attention to the instruction, the sweeper reportedly volunteered that she could administer the jab.

"But instead of giving the medicine to the 16-year-old patient, the sweeper injected the two-year-old boy, who died within minutes," Arjun Rajan, a senior investigating officer, said, The Times of India reported.

The police responded to the scene on reports of the patient's relatives creating chaos at the nursing home. The child was then rushed to another hospital but was declared brought dead.

The child's father accused that the injection was administered to his son without seeking the advice of the child's doctor, Pravin Gangane, who was planning to discharge the toddler that day.

"We have registered a case against the nurse, the doctor, and the owner of the nursing home and are awaiting the postmortem report of the child to find out the exact cause of his death. We are making efforts to track the accused and arrest them," the investigating officer added.

Last month, a 33-year-old man from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh died after he was allegedly given the wrong injection while undergoing treatment for a fractured hand. The family alleged that the patient's health deteriorated and died after the hospital staff administered him an injection while he went for a regular check-up.