Why should a boy die after general anesthesia for circumcision?

It is really very disappointing to note that in Bangladesh a boy can die after general anesthesia for circumcision.

It recently happened at United Medical College Hospital in the capital’s Badda.

The five-year old victim, one named Ayaan, was given full anesthesia without parental consent and after circumcision the boy could not regain his consciousness.

It has been reported in the media that after seven days of keeping him on life support in the PICU (Pediatric intensive care unit), the boy was declared dead by the hospital’s doctors.

Clearly, in this tragic event there is serious negligence on the part of the relevant anesthesiologist who could not maintain the right dose of medicine for general anesthesia for which the boy could have possibly died.

While this particular case must be investigated impartially for giving justice to the boy’s parents who asked for it, another technical question also arises.

If with local anesthesia the circumcision surgery can be perfectly done why does a surgeon in Bangladesh choose for general anesthesia?

By the way, anesthesia technology now has become so perfect that, a person who is given it, regains his consciousness following the clock. But sadly, in the case of Ayaan, it was not the case.

It is not that Ayaan is the first child in Bangladesh to embrace death after general anesthesia for circumcision. There were instances of this kind of tragedy in the past also.

When the trained medical practitioners could not handle properly a case of circumcision, the reality is we never heard death of any boy in the hand of a traditional ‘jarrah’ (surgion) or ‘ostad’ who conducts the surgery applying the age-old practice of cutting the foreskin directly by a razor.

Not long ago, the blade gained from the bamboo outer surface was also used in the rural areas for cutting foreskin and ashes obtained from burning clothes were used as antiseptic.

This process by metal or bamboo-skin razor is painful for the boy, but there used to be no fatalities. Circumcision with local or full anesthesia is not painful and hence this process in surgery has become increasingly popular among the parents of children.

It is very sad that even in this small act of surgery, the relevant doctors/surgeons in Bangladesh are failing to earn the trust of people.