JEDDAH: A distraught Najran father, who has accused a hospital of killing his eight-month-old daughter, says he will not bury her until what he described as the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Aun Ramis Al-Sairi said he would not collect her body from the mortuary of Sharourah General Hospital and that the Najran Health Department must punish those responsible. He would take the case to a higher authority if nothing is done, he was quoted as saying by an online newspaper.

Al-Sairi said he had already given his testimony to a commission of inquiry set up to investigate the death of his child, which included a child specialist, cardiologist, and pediatricians from the Children and Maternity Hospital, King Khalid Hospital and Najran General Hospital.

He accused medical staff at Sharourah General Hospital of making mistakes that caused the death of his child. Ibrahim Salim Bilharith, director general of the Najran Health Department, said that it appeared that the child may have died due to medical negligence because the oxygen ran out in an ambulance as she was being moved from Sharourah Hospital to the Najran children’s hospital last week.

Al-Sairi reportedly said that he had taken the child to Sharourah General Hospital at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday last week. She was examined, given some treatment and discharged. However, when he arrived home, he saw that her condition had deteriorated.

He took her back to the hospital on Thursday morning. After examinations, it was found that she had some swelling on her heart and should be hospitalized so that a cardiologist could examine her.

He was then told that she should be moved to Najran immediately. On the way from Sharourah to Najran, before traveling 100 km, he claimed the oxygen ran out in the ambulance. She was taken to Khabbash Hospital at 5:30 p.m. and declared dead.