Melaka health dept to probe claim baby left untreated for 11 hours
Executive councillor Ngwe Hee Sem said he has directed the Melaka health department to investigate the case which happened at the Melaka Hospital on Saturday.
PETALING JAYA : The Melaka health department has been ordered to investigate a claim a 22-month-old girl was left untreated for 11 hours at the Melaka Hospital, despite suffering from high fever and eventually a 'seizure'.
State executive councillor for health Ngwe Hee Sem said he is aware of the case and has called for an immediate and thorough investigation, Bernama reported.
'I have contacted the Melaka health director (Dr Ruzita Mustaffa) as well as the top management of Melaka Hospital and asked them to investigate the case.
'At the same time, I urge the public not to make assumptions until the matter is resolved,' he was quoted as saying.
A 13-minute video showing the child crying in pain went viral on social media, prompting outrage and calls for accountability.
In a Facebook post, the baby's mother, Siti Aishah Rahim, 27, said she and her mother rushed the child, Siti Farha Adelia Mohd Firdaus, to the hospital's emergency and trauma department at 2.30pm on Saturday after she developed a high fever.
Siti Aishah claimed that the hospital staff only took a blood sample before asking them to wait.
The child's temperature reportedly rose to 40°C and she was left untreated until she suffered a seizure at about 1am the next day, it was claimed.
'I kept asking questions, but we were told to wait, until my baby started having a seizure at 1am and her body went stiff,' she said.
The child was later moved from the green zone to the yellow zone as her condition deteriorated, and doctors eventually stabilised her.
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