Addu City, Maldives – A case of an infant passing away due to negligence from Addu Equitorial Hospital has surfaced.
Speaking to local media ‘AdduLive’, a member of the victim’s family stated that the infant was the firstborn of MaradhooFeydhoo parents, who underwent medical treatment to get pregnant.
The family member also noted that the couple was regularly consulting doctors up until five months into the pregnancy, and no issues were flagged from these visits.
However, due to the lockdown measures put in place for Addu, in order to curb the spread of COVID-19, AEH brought in changes including online consultations.
As per the family, they faced difficulties in acquiring online appointments and stated that they were able to consult only once. Even then, they were unable to do a mandatory scan.
“We were unable to get appointments from AEH and later she began to leak amniotic fluid. We rushed her to Feydhoo Health Center, where she was only prescribed painkillers. We took her there a second time when she continued to complain of pain, and it become unbearable for her. But this time also, they tried to give painkillers.”
Some of the changes brought following lockdown was that those residing in Maradhoo, MaradhooFeydhoo and Feydhoo are to go to Feydhoo Health Center to consult, and those who require emergency treatment are to be transported to AEH via ambulance.
The family further revealed that they were finally able to get an appointment for Wednesday morning at 0800hrs after they raised the issue in a Viber group created by AEH with pregnant women in the area. They have shared screenshots from the conversation with Addu Live.
“When we came in for the appointment at 0800hrs, they took her in for emergency surgery. Without explaining what was happening, they did an emergency cesarean and delivered the baby. The baby was immediately put on a ventilator. After that, they informed us that the baby passed away.”
Addressing this issue, AEH confirmed that a baby delivered via cesarean section on June 2, Wednesday had passed away. They stated that neither the family nor any authority has approached the hospital and accused of negligence in the infant’s death so far.
Furthermore, AEH claimed that they have made arrangements for pregnant women to consult and said that they were unaware of any incident of delays in consultations and scans.
