The death of a child in Saudi Arabia with a swab of Corona, and the authorities are moving

The family of the Saudi child, Abdulaziz Al-Jofan, aged one and a half years, was grieved by his death after the medical swab broke inside his nose, when the medical staff at Shaqra General Hospital suspected that he had contracted the Corona virus due to a high temperature.

In the details of the incident, Al-Jofan’s assistant spoke about it, quoting the Arab News Agency, the child’s uncle and legal representative, and stated: “The child was not suffering from chronic or dangerous diseases, and on Friday evening, he complained about his high temperature, and the Shaqra Hospital was reviewed with his mother, and after He showed him to the doctor, and he decided that he should take a swab through the nose, although his health was good and he only had a high temperature.

He added: “The swab broke inside his nose, so the doctor decided to put him under full anesthesia to perform an operation, and an operation was performed to extract the swab from the child’s nose, and at around one o’clock at night, they told me that the operation was over, and that the doctor was able to extract the swab from the child’s nose.”

And he continued: “After the operation, the child woke up, and his mother was accompanying him, and she repeatedly asked the nursing staff to examine him by the specialist doctor after the operation and to reassure him of his condition, and to make sure that the swab was completely extracted and that the bleeding stopped and easy breathing, but the staff justified the absence of the doctor and demanded the child’s mother to wait. “.

According to the testimony of the child’s uncle, at around nine in the morning the child suddenly lost consciousness, so his mother immediately informed the nurses, and it was found that he had stopped breathing, and he was treated with artificial respiration.

He added, "Then I came to the hospital and asked to call the specialist, who performed an x-ray on the child that showed obstruction of the airway in one of the lungs, according to the radiologist's statement. When the child’s condition deteriorated, she requested that he be transferred to a specialized hospital in Riyadh to save his life. In fact, the approval came early at 12:18; However, we sat in the hospital waiting for the ambulance, and the emergency service did not arrive until exactly one o’clock and 19 minutes (that is, after an hour had passed). Despite that, we sat waiting for the child to be transferred until the afternoon prayer, and he was not transferred; At that time, he would announce his death, may God have mercy on him.”

The uncle revealed that he submitted a report to investigate the cause of the unexpected death of the child, the reasons for the refraction of the swab inside the child’s nose, as well as the safety of the general anesthesia process, and the rest of the medical procedures related to dealing with the case and stopping the requirements of medical necessity.

The uncle stated that the father of the child received a call for condolences from the Saudi Minister of Health, Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, in which he pledged to follow up on the child's case himself.

Al-Jofan concluded his testimony: “I am waiting to punish those responsible for the death of the child and protect the community from such practices. The hospital told the family by phone that no official letter was received from the ministry regarding whether or not the child was handed over, regarding the existing case, and that they are dealing with the child’s death as a natural death, They demanded the family to come and sign the body, and upon reviewing them, they told me that the child would be handed over to the municipality on the grounds that his condition was suspected of Corona symptoms. The legal advisor of the Ministry, who handled the case in Shaqra Hospital, confirmed that the order to hand over the body is up to us, and the investigation is over. The child has been in the refrigerator for 9 days and they told me by phone that if he refused to receive him, he would be transferred to the freezer so as not to damage the body