Amputation of child’s hand: HC seeks affidavit from govt.

A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court seeking a probe into an incident in which the right hand of a nine-year-old girl who had been initially taken to the district hospital in Palakkad had to be amputated. The girl, hailing from a financially backward family, was taken to the hospital after suffering two fractures in the hand.

The plea was filed by P.D. Joseph, a social worker from Thrissur. He said that the girl was taken to the hospital in September 2025. Instead of doing a surgery, a plaster was applied to her hand without proper examination and she was discharged. This led to infection of the fractured hand and bleeding from the fractured portions. No medicine was given to stop the bleeding.

She was subsequently admitted to the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital, where her right hand, which was fully infected, had to be amputated. This would not have happened if she had been kept under observation and treated properly at the district hospital in Palakkad, Mr. Joseph contended.

The court directed the government to file an affidavit in this regard within three weeks.