Al-Qalam 
In a tragic incident, an 18-month-old Saudi boy, Abdul Aziz Al-Gufan, has died after the swab test stick broke inside his nose.
The incident happened in Shaqra General Hospital when the parents took their son to the hospital on Friday, after they noticed he suffered a high temperature. The child wasn’t showing any other symptoms but the doctor said that it was important to conduct a Covid-19 test. While doing the test, the swab stick broke inside the child’s nose.
The child’s uncle and legal guardian, Mosaed al-Joufan, said: “He did not suffer from any chronic or dangerous diseases. He complained Friday evening of a fever and we took him to Shaqra General Hospital with his mother.”
After he was examined by a doctor, they decided to conduct a nasal swab, even though he was in good health and only complained of a high temperature.”
The uncle said the swab broke inside the child’s nasal cavity, so the doctor decided to put him under general anesthesia to extract the broken swab from the child’s nose.
Al-Joufan added that after his nephew woke up, he asked the nurse for the specialist doctor to examine the boy after the operation, check his status and ensure that the swab was taken out completely and that there was no bleeding or difficulty breathing.
But the nurse said the doctor was not available and asked the mother to wait, al-Joufan said.
At 9 a.m. in the morning, the boy lost consciousness, and the medical staff found that he wasn’t breathing and performed CPR, according to the uncle.
“I then came to the hospital and asked for the specialist doctor to come. He performed an X-ray which showed that a blockage of the airway in one of the lungs, according to the radiologist.”
Al-Joufan said while waiting for an ambulance to transport the child to a specialist hospital in Riyadh , the child passed away. He has asked for action to be taken against the doctor concerned.
Saudi Minister for Health Tawfiq Al Rabiah promised to follow up. – Independent-Press.
