13-yr-old dies from minor foot injury, parents cry foul

Three days after injuring his foot while playing football, a 13-year-old boy died under mysterious circumstances at the civic-run KEM hospital, Parel. The parents of the deceased teenager allege that their son died due to medical negligence.

No more:u00a0Manthan Mohite (13) died under mysterious circumstances at the civic-run KEM hospital, Parel, three days after sustaining a foot injury while playing football

On July 14, Sion resident Manthan Mohite, a Std VIII student, went to Shivaji Park after school hours to play football with his friends. During the course of the match, he hurt his left toe after coming in contact with an opponent. He went home and told his parents about the minor injury.

The next day, his parents took the boy to a local doctor, but as he continued to experience pain, they decided to take him to KEM.

"At KEM, I informed the OPD doctors of his injury. However, without even diagnosing the nature of the injury, the doctors told us that there was no need to admit him, as he was able to stand with ease," said Rahul Mohite, father of the deceased boy.

After being taken home, Manthan soon started feeling unwell and weak. "We again took Manthan to the hospital on July 16, as he had a fever and was feeling restless. I asked the doctors to conduct a blood test and ECG, but they reiterated that there was no need to panic. They asked us to take Manthan to the orthopaedic surgeon and asked us to take an X-ray of the foot. Everything was normal when the reports came in," said Kalyani Mohite, mother of the boy.

On July 17, Manthan complained of breathlessness, following which he was again rushed to KEM hospital. "It was the same scenario, Manthan complained to us that he was not able to breathe properly, and we immediately rushed him to KEM.

This time the doctors spent a long time checking him, and at the last moment made us run around for blood tests. When my husband went to get the blood tests done, the doctors treating my son came out of the ward and informed me that he was no more.

This is nothing but negligence on part of the doctors treating him, as our son would have been alive if the doctors would have listened to what we were saying on the very first day when we asked them to conduct all the necessary tests," said the mother.

When MiD DAY tried to contact Sanjay Oak, dean of KEM hospital, he said he was on leave and could not comment.

Manthan was a student at Bal Mohan School, Dadar. He was very good at painting.

"The post mortem reports and other reports are yet to come in, and it may take a month or more. Hence, we can't comment on the case," said a police officer, on condition of anonymity.

"Parents of the victim have not registered a case against KEM hospital, but as the patient died within 24 hours of his admission to the hospital, a case has been registered under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPc)," said PSI Dange, Shivaji Park Police station.u00a0