: A middle-aged patient who underwent a brain surgery recently has lost a piece of his skull. This extraordinary episode has put the patient as well as the hospital in a spot.

AHMEDABADThe mysterious disappearance has been reported to the Vastrapur police station by the patient's son, Parth Soni, a resident of Navrangpura.In his application of complaint, Parth has alleged that on March 10 he had admitted his father Ashok Soni , 59, to the Sterling Hospital . "The doctors there diagnosed that my father had a blood clot in his brain and suggested surgery," Parth has said in his application. "On the same day, my father was operated upon and a portion of his skull was cut out to enable doctors to perform the surgery."The piece of Ashok's skull, however, was not put back immediately since this procedure requires the opening to be kept open till the operated part heals completely. After a period of more than a month the piece of the bone is put back.In his application Parth has said that on Tuesday he returned to the hospital according to the appointment for the placement of the bone. Matters got mysterious at this juncture. The piece of bone was nowhere to be found. Parth claims that the hospital authorities asked for the bone from him.Hospital authorities claim that handing over the skull's piece to the patient's family is a common practice and in this case too the norm was followed. They said Soni was admitted on March 16, 2013, in a critical situation."On same day, decompression craniectomy (Lt) with evacuation of the clot was done. On March 20, after sterilizing, the cranium bone piece in a sealed pack was handed over to the relative of the patient named Jignesh as a routine protocol," a release issued by the Sterling Hospital said. "On April 23, 2013, the patient was readmitted for cranioplasty. The patient's relatives could not produce cranium bone piece saying that Mr Jignesh is not their relative. A neurosurgeon performed cranioplasty with bone cement."A hospital official said, "Bone cement is preferred to cranium bone piece as it is stronger and is always free of any infection." He said that in many instances, the cranium bone piece is infected so neurosurgeons use bone cement and it was a routine practice worldwide.In his application of complaint Parth has alleged that the hospital authorities claimed that the sterilized bone was handed over to his family members soon after the surgery. When Parth sought evidence of this handover, the hospital staff showed him an entry in their register which showed that somebody by the name of Jignesh had signed for the piece of bone and had taken it away. Parth claims that there is nobody called Jignesh in his family. "I have submitted the application of complaint in the hope that police will be able to trace this man," said Parth.R N Sisodia, inspector of Vastrapur police station, said: "We have got the complaint and are probing the matter."