Nasir Al-Shahrani said his brother Yahya, who was also sacked from his job due to the deterioration of his health following kidney failure, died after being given two injections — one on his hand and the other on his right hip.
“Suffering from high blood pressure, Yahya approached a hospital two weeks before Ramadan. After the first injection, some swelling developed on his hand. When the second injection was given, his condition worsened with further complications, such as severe pain, inflammation and pus from the place where the injection was administered. This resulted in deterioration of his condition and eventual death,” Al-Watan newspaper quoted Nasir as saying.
“When I spoke with the consulting doctor about Yahya's serious health condition, his reply was that there was nothing unusual and there was no cause for worry. However, it was a great surprise for me when the doctor asked my brother to sign a paper endorsing surgical removal of pus. I then met with the hospital director and explained to him what had happened. The director promised that he would set up a committee to investigate the case,” he said.
Meanwhile, Saeed Al-Nageer, director of public relations at the Health Affairs Directorate in Asir province, asserted that the directorate does not tolerate medical errors.
“I will examine the patient’s file and will investigate the case myself. Stringent punitive action shall be taken against those accountable for complicating a patient’s health,” he said.
On his part, Muhammad Al-Asmari, director of the Al-Birr Charitable Society in Abha, said that the society stood by the young man in his hour of distress. “We paid two checks to the tune of three months' salary to the young man. We also offered him support in kind for a period of six months. He breathed his last when we were preparing to send him a third check,” he added.
Yahya had been reportedly fired from service for coming to work late for a few days while undergoing dialysis in hospital, the newspaper reported.
