The infant has been referred to the North Bengal Medical College Hospital in Siliguri.
In a shocking incident, a nurse at a government hospital at Balurghat in West Bengal cut off the thumb of an 8-day-old girl while trying to remove a bandage from the infant's hand.
The infant had been admitted to the hospital in South Dinajpur district on Friday as she was suffering from diarrhea. On Sunday, a night before she was to be released, the nurse trying to cut through the bandage around her left hand with a pair of scissors, accidentally cut off her thumb.
The mother, who was in the hospital with the infant, noticed the infant's hand was bleeding and called the doctors, who then discovered the thumb was missing.
According to the infant's father, Bimal Mandal, the nurse attempted to cover up the matter and threw away the dismembered thumb into a dustbin.
"When I heard about the incident, I rushed to the hospital and asked the sisters who had cut off the finger," said Bimal Mandal. "The sisters could not say who was on duty. I asked, where is the thumb. They said they didn't know. Then I started looking it for the thumb and found it in a dustbin. I called the doctors," he added.
The infant has been referred to the North Bengal Medical College Hospital in Siliguri. "We pray for the child's early recovery. We have referred her to the North Bengal Medical College Hospital," said hospital superintendent Tapan Biswas. "We have also written that all expense for her treatment will be borne by us. Once we have a complaint letter, an inquiry will be started and law will take its course," he added.
Bimal Mandal works in a hardware shop at Basul village near Balurghat. He has filed a written complaint with the hospital.