The circumcision of a baby boy is usually a joyous moment in any Bangladeshi family. And celebrations follow in most circumcisions with arranging a feast attended by near and dear ones. But for Ayaan's family, their excitement and happiness did not last long. The five-year-old boy passed away following a circumcision procedure conducted at a private hospital. Ayaan's father Shamim Ahmed alleged that the hospital's negligence led to the loss of his child. According to the media, Ayaan was circumcised on December 31 under full anaesthesia at United Medical College Hospital in the capital's Badda, allegedly without parental consent. From there, the nursery student was transferred to the hospital's Gulshan branch as he did not regain consciousness after a few hours of post-operation. And after seven days of keeping him on life support in the paediatric intensive care unit, the doctors of Unted hospital's Gulshan branch declared Ayaan dead on Sunday.
Circumcision is, by and large, one of the safest surgical procedures one can perform on a human body. In Bangladesh, it is still performed mainly by traditional circumcisers, known as hazam. However, conscious parents these days prefer their sons to be circumcised by certified physicians so that there remain zero risk factors. That is why Ayaan's parents took him to a private hospital and the circumcision surgery was performed by a medical team led by a registered surgeon and an anaesthetist. Even so, the boy had to die, a tragedy his family thinks was the result of the improper application of anaesthesia. According to Ayaan's father, the doctors applied full anaesthesia on the boy without the family's permission.
It appears that many hospitals, particularly private ones, consider circumcision surgeries a too easy task and take the surgical procedures lightly. If the hospital authorities were more careful about Ayaan's anaesthesia, this young boy could have been among his family enjoying the winter vacation. Although it has not been proven yet whether the hospital authorities were negligent or not in the case of Ayaan, yet the sad incident is a reminder to every hospital so that they consider the surgery related to circumcision more seriously. Reactions of drugs, the type of drugs applied, the child's allergy to drugs should be checked and rechecked. They need to be more careful about children.
It is unfortunate that most circumcision-related deaths in Bnagladesh are not recorded officially as they are conducted by traditional circumcisers. And those which are recorded are not shown to be caused by circumcision at all, but due to the immediate cause, most commonly stroke, bleeding, infection or reactions to drugs. Medical statistics are thus at fault in that they do not give the true cause of death. We hope that did not happen in the case of Ayaan. The four-member committee formed by the Directorate General of Health Services should neutrally and impartially dig out the cusses behind the death of a healthy young boy after circumcision. Also, there should be standard procedures to carry out a surgery related to circumcision, which all hospitals and health care professionals should follow compulsorily.
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