Another Incompetency Caused the Death of a Five Year Old
A child died in a famous Egyptian private children's hospital after undergoing wrong treatment.
The mother of the 5-year-old boy, Mahmoud Hassan Hilal, explained that her son had a very high temperature, so she took him to the "Tabarak" Children's Hospital in the Fifth Settlement, one of the most famous children's hospitals in the country. She also added that the doctor told her he would give him an intravenous antibiotic. Before that one nurse had tested Mahmoud for an allergy when his skin appeared red.
The grieving mother went on to explain that the nurse told the doctor that the boy had the symptoms of allergy, but he nevertheless ordered her to inject him with the antibiotic.
The shocked mother also confirmed that the said doctor did not care to see her son even before he was injected neither cared about the nurse's opinion.
She further pointed out that Mahmoud's condition got worsen immediately after injection, and a white substance came out of his mouth, also changed the color of his skin, and he appeared very tired, which prompted her to seek help from the doctor, but his response was shocking.
He assured her that her son was in good condition, and that his fatigue was merely a "psychological state".
But she was not convinced by his words, noticing her reaction to his statement the doctor ordered the staff to take her out of the examination room. After which she called her brother and husband to the hospital. When the father arrived there, he realized that his son had died, but the doctor advised him to transfer the boy to Sayed Jalal Hospital, a government hospital far from their location.
When the father asked the doctor for the reason of the transfer he said he works there and the staff there would remove the suspicion of causing the child's death they have in their minds.
The child was taken to the government hospital, where a medical report said that he was in a state of cardiac arrest and a drop in blood circulation.
He was not pronounced dead until a full five hours later, after a doctor had to confess his death several hours earlier.
After that tragedy, the mother went to Tabarak Hospital asking for the name of the doctor who caused her son's death, but the hospital director denied the story, denying that they had a doctor with these specifications.
While social media was abuzz with the incident, and voices called for an official investigation, the arrest of the doctor and shutting down the hospital.
This prompted the Ministry of Health to announce on Thursday evening the shutdown of Tabarak Hospital until the completion of investigations into the death of "Mahmoud Hassan Hilal".
The ministry's official spokesman said that immediately after reviewing a complaint stating that the child died due to suspected negligence by the doctor, Minister of Health Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar directed the formation of a committee from the Central Administration of Non-Governmental Treatment Institutions to pass through the hospital and review how to deal with the child's treatment plan.
The committee's preliminary investigations revealed that the hospital did not deal with the child's condition in accordance with the correct medical protocol that should be followed in such cases.