Nurse severs infant's thumb while trying to remove bandage

A nurse has allegedly severed a thumb of an eight-day-old boy while trying to remove a bandage from his hand in a government hospital here in South Dinajpur district.
The infant was admitted to the Sick and Neonatal Care Unit (SNCU) in the District Hospital in Balurghat with diarrhoea on July 6, Chief Medical Officer of Health Sukumar De said today.
The baby's left palm was covered with bandage to administer saline. After the child's condition improved, a nurse was removing the bandage last night.
However, while doing so, she allegedly severed the boy's thumb and then dumped it in a dustbin.

The infant's father Babla Mondal raised a hue and cry after knowing what had happened. He also recovered the severed thumb from the dustbin.
Senior doctors visited the boy and sent him to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) at Siliguri to rejoin his severed thumb, De said.

The child's ordeal did not end there as the NBMCH did not have infrastructure to treat such a patient and sent him back to the Balurghat hospital. The child has been admitted there again.
The CMOH said he has ordered an investigation and the accused nurse has been sent for five-day leave.

The child's father has also lodged a complaint with the police over the incident.