JEDDAH: A female citizen has demanded an investigation into the administration team of the Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz Hospital in Riyadh after the staff at the emergency division refused to treat her 6-year-old child who had been run over by a car and was suffering from multiple fractures in hands and legs.

The staff allegedly asked the mother to wait until their turn, which forced her to go to King Fahd Medical City where the child remains in hospital.

Speaking to a local publication Maha Alenzi, the mother of the child, said: “My child was run over by a car on Sunday and we took him to Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz Hospital in Riyadh and admitted him to the emergency division. But one of the staff asked us to wait for our turn because other patients had come in first, even though car and traffic accidents in general take priority and precedence over other health cases.”

She said no that she felt as though no one could have convinced the staff member to change his mind. “So we moved my child to King Fahd Medical Hospital. I wonder how it is that traffic accidents take priority and yet the staff there did not even bother to look at my child. Those responsible for this should be held accountable and should be punished,” she said.

In response to the accusations, the Director of the Department of Patients’ Rights and Relations at Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz Hospital, Mohammad Fawzan Al-Shayei, said that the patient was brought to the emergency department at around 7:20 in the evening, even though the injury had occurred five hours earlier. He added that the child was under examination within five minutes of his arrival, at 7:25 p.m.