Doctors from the Bai Jerbai Wadia hospital in Parel surgically removed a two-centimetre-long vaccination needle lodged in a one-month-old baby’s hip bone.
Born on June 7, the boy was vaccinated three days after birth, but the needle was negligently left in his bone. After suffering continuous episodes of fever and swelling due to the internal infection, the baby was finally operated on last week, and the needle was removed in a two-hour procedure.
“We had vaccinated our son at a nursing home in Panvel. Soon after, he developed fever. We took him to a paediatrician, who noticed swelling on his thigh and recommended that we take him to Wadia Hospital for further treatment,” said Sudhakar Pashte, the boy’s father, a resident of Chembur.
Doctors were treating the baby for a possible osteomyelitis (bone infection), which can be caused by various factors. However, when the fever did not subside, they carried out a CT scan and X-ray, and found a foreign object lodged in the hip bone.
The parents had no idea that the needle was lodged in the baby’s bone, and no one had raised an alarm during the vaccination. Doctors at Wadia Hospital said this was an unusual case and sheer negligence on part of the doctor who administered the vaccine.
Paediatric surgeon Dr. Pradnya Bendre, who operated on the baby, said that the C-Arm guidance localisation method was used to remove the needle, which was embedded in the capsule of the left hip joint. C-Arm is a medical imaging device that works with X-ray technology and helps penetrate bony regions. “The baby has recovered well and now has no complications,” Dr. Bendre said.
