Mayukh Ghosh

Relatives and friends of a 17-year-old engineering student who died at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals on Sunday have lodged a police complaint alleging medical negligence.

The hospital authorities denied the charge, saying he could have choked after being fed through a nasal tube around 11am, and died of cardiac arrest.

Mayukh Ghosh, a first-year student of civil engineering at Jadavpur University, was brought to the Apollo hospital on September 4 after he met with an accident at Barasat station.

The teenager was running along the tracks to catch a train when he tripped and fell. The wheels of the train grazed his left hand.

“He was rushed to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where he was given first-aid, and then shifted to Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals. He was operated on the same day and his left hand was amputated. The doctors told us that there was no major head injury,” said Sudip Basu, a neighbour of Mayukh.

Family members said Mayukh was wheeled into the intensive care unit and put on life support after the surgery.

Two weeks later, the student was taken off the life-support system and shifted to a general bed. The doctors told the family that Mayukh was out of danger. “He was still on oxygen and was also fitted with a nasal feeding tube,” said a relative.

“On Saturday, when I left the hospital around 8.30pm, he was fine. He even waved at me. In the morning, when we called up the hospital, a nurse said Mayukh was doing okay. But when I came to the hospital I saw the oxygen and the feeding tubes had been taken off and his body was cold. Duty nurses who were sitting near Mayukh’s bed had no clue what had happened to him,” said Mayukh’s father Mrinal Kanti Ghosh.

“The patient’s condition was stable when his family members called at 8.57am. He died of cardiac arrest soon after being fed around 11am. He died apparently after vomiting, which choked his respiratory tract,” said Arijit Bose, the director of medical services of the hospital.

Bose denied allegations of medical negligence, as “the patient was positioned at 45 degrees on the bed while being fed”.