ABHA, 2 November 2007 — One more baby died at the Abha General Hospital in the Asir region bringing the total number of babies that have died at the hospital over the last 45 days to 10. The dead baby girl has been named as Leen Asiri, who died a couple of days ago. Arab News tried to contact the head of the hospital, who was unavailable for comment.
Dr. Muhammad Awad, postnatal consultant at the Asir Central Hospital, told Arab News that prematurely born babies weighing less than 800 grams were less immune to bacterial infections. “However, weight does not always need to be a decisive factor leading to a fatal health situation. The cause could be external, such as a shortage of sufficient nurses at the special care unit for prematurely born babies. There should be one nurse to take care of every two babies,” said Awad.
“If the number of babies under a nurse’s care increases, then the nurse would not be able to pay sufficient attention to each of the babies. This could lead to a fatal situation,” Awad said.
He added that the cause of the infants’ deaths in the Abha hospital should be probed by a medical inquiry.
Iman Dahrouj, a statistician, said the situation at Abha hospital could not be explained without proper statistical data on the total births and deaths at the hospital over a given time. “If there were 200 births and 12 deaths in a month, then this would be considered quite natural,” she said.
On an earlier occasion, Abdullah Al-Qahtani, head of Abha General Hospital, denied that the deaths of nine prematurely born babies at the hospital were due to a lack of cleanliness at the hospital’s intensive care unit, as reported recently by local newspapers.
Al-Qahtani said the nine babies who died at his hospital were born prematurely and breathing through respirators. “Three of the babies were girls and six boys... Some of the babies had caught infections from their mothers during birth,” he added.
Al-Qahtani was refuting claims in the local press that nine babies had died at the hospital due to a lack of cleanliness. The hospital boss said the first death was on the first day of Ramadan. The other children died subsequently on different dates over the past four weeks.
“However, the intensive care unit and the operation room are at greater risk of being places where illnesses can be transferred... Some of the babies may have caught infections due to their physical weakness,” he added.
Al-Qahtani said premature babies are at higher risk not to survive and that hospitals have a Death Investigation Committee, which is responsible for investigating possible malpractice in case of deaths.
“What the local newspapers have published regarding a lack of cleanliness at the intensive care unit and the spread of bacteria and viruses is untrue,” he said.
Following reports of negligence in the local press, Dr. Abdullah Al-Wadie, head of Medical Affairs in the Asir region, made an inspection tour of Abha General Hospital, said Saeed Al-Nugair, press officer at the Asir Medical Affairs.
