A police case has been registered against an unnamed nurse at a civic hospital in Ahmedabad for injuring the thumb of a baby girl while removing bandage.

While the girl's mother alleged that the nurse "cut off" the thumb, the hospital said it was only injured and a corrective surgery was performed. The incident took place at civic-run V S Hospital on June 2 where the five-month baby had been admitted for pneumonia. A nurse accidentally severed the thumb of the left- hand while cutting through the baby's bandage with scissors, her mother alleged on June 5.

The thumb was reattached through a surgery on the same day but doctors said they were not sure it the surgery would be successful, she claimed. The doctors also asked her to take the baby to a bigger hospital, the mother said. "We are daily wage earners. We can not afford to go to a bigger hospital. I want to see her thumb as it was before," she said.

Hospital's Resident Medical Officer Jitendra Parmar said an inquiry will be conducted and action will be taken against the responsible nurse. He, however, maintained that the thumb was not severed but only injured. It was stitched up, and such wounds heal quickly in babies, he said. A First Information Report was also lodged against the unnamed staff of the hospital under IPC section 337 (causing injury by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and probe was on, said an official of Ellisbridge police station.