6-year-old dies after ‘excess sedation’ at Greater Noida facility, probe ordered

GREATER NOIDA: A six-year-old boy died on th allegedly during an MRI process at a buck private symptomatic centre in Greater Noida, with his fellowship accusing the facility of gross medical negligence and administering excessive sedation, police said on Friday.Officials said that they have initiated an investigation into the incident, and that a formal first information report (FIR) will be filed once the report of a medical inquiry is received. According to a complaint filed at Beta 2 police station at 4pm Thursday, the child from Dungarpur village had suffered a mild seizure around 15–20 days ago and was treated at a private hospital. After recovering fully, doctors advised an MRI and EEG as precautionary tests. HT has seen a copy of the complaint.“He was completely normal on the day of the scan and was playing at home before being taken for the MRI,” the boy’s father, Vickey, a farmer, wrote in the complaint. The MRI was conducted at KB Healthcare in Sector Phi-III, Greater Noida. The boy was taken there by his maternal uncle and another relative, according to the family.Vickey alleged that complications began during the procedure. In his complaint, he alleged that staff at the centre demanded additional money and said the child would need to be sedated again. “Despite objections, another dose of medication was administered,” he alleged. Vickey further claimed that he overheard one staff member later telling another that the child had “already been given the medicine earlier”, leading to panic among them.The family further alleged in their complaint that there was a delay in responding to the child’s worsening condition. According to the complaint, the boy was kept inside the procedure room for nearly half an hour after the second dose. “Despite repeated requests, he was not brought out immediately. When the relatives finally entered the room, the child was found lying motionless,” Vickey alleged.As his condition deteriorated, the family alleged that staff advised shifting him to another private hospital instead of the facility where he had earlier been treated. “By then, the child’s body had already gone cold,” a relative said. Doctors at the second hospital declared him dead on arrival at around 10.30am.Police said that an FIR will be registered only after a medical inquiry is completed, in line with Supreme Court guidelines in cases of alleged medical negligence. “An investigation has been ordered by the Chief Medical Officer’s office and further action will be taken based on the findings,” said Vinod Kumar, station house officer of Beta 2 police station.Chief medical officer of Gautam Budh Nagar Dr Narendra Kumar confirmed that a four-member inquiry committee has been constituted to probe the incident. “The team visited the diagnostic facility today. The centre has been sealed and further action will be initiated once the inquiry is completed,” he said.Following the incident, local farmers staged a protest on Thursday demanding legal action and accountability. Pawan Khatana, a member of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha who supported the family during the protest, said the facility must remain shut until responsibility is fixed. “We demanded that the chief medical officer be informed and the centre sealed. A committee has since inspected the facility,” he said, warning of further agitation if action is delayed. The deceased was Vickey’s elder son; his younger child is a toddler.Contact numbers of KB Healthcare and its representatives were switched off as HT tried to reach out for a comment on the incident.