JEDDAH — The administration at Khamis Mushayt Hospital, in the southern Asir Region, is keeping mum on the case of a Pakistani nurse who accidentally began to transfuse the wrong blood type into a 40-year-old woman patient. The transfusion was stopped shortly after it was started when the nurse realized the mistake, and the patient suffered no ill effects.
A source at the hospital who spoke to Arab News anonymously said that an internal investigation found that the nurse who had worked in the Kingdom for two years had taken a new position at the hospital’s surgical department. The mistake happened on her first day at work.
The general manager of Health Affairs in Asir, Dr. Abdul Al-Allah Al-Wadai, wouldn’t comment on the case, but underscored that the patient did not suffer any complications because the mistake was found out immediately. Transfusing the wrong blood type into a person can cause death.
Arab News tried to contact the spokesman of the Ministry of Health Dr. Khaled Mirghalani, but his office said all questions about policies and procedures should be put to local health officials.
In another incident in the Asir Region, a boy was reportedly sent home from Al-Mujarda Hospital after he was taken to the emergency room with severe stomachache and vomiting.
According to the daily Al-Madinah, after returning home the boy’s condition worsened and he fell into a coma. Then he was admitted to Muhayel General Hospital where it was discovered that his appendix had ruptured and having gone untreated the boy had fallen into septic shock.
