Addu City, Maldives – Addu Equatorial Hospital has revealed that the death of an infant at the hospital would be investigated by a special team.
The case of the infant passing away due to negligence from Addu Equitorial Hospital has surfaced yesterday and 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.
The statement by Addu Equatorial Hospital read that the mother had attended an online consultation on May 22, 2021 and that she was scheduled for a follow up on June 5. The hospital also stated that the mother had done the scans and tests yesterday which had to be done prior to the next consultation and that following the results of the tests that the doctors had told that an emergency cesarean had to be done.
Hospital also stated that the cesarean was carried out within 30 minutes and that following the emergency cesarean that the infant was treated in the ICU. AEH further added that in any emergency case that their doctors and midwifes would tell to come to the hospital and that there would be no obstacles to come to the emergency room and get the necessary treatments.
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 local media ‘adduLIVE’.
“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.”
Although, AEH had told yesterday 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, in their statement, they had revealed that a special team would investigate the case to ensure that such cases which put the lives of mothers and their child in danger would not repeat.
