The baby’s heart had temporarily stopped and doctors spent 22 minutes trying to resuscitate her.

A nurse’s medical error at Hamad Hospital’s emergency pediatric unit in Al Sadd has led to the brain damage of a one-week-old girl, and her parents are now demanding compensation from Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health.

According to local newspaper, Al Sharq, a person shared the complaint with the public through Qatar Radio’s daily morning show, “My Beloved Country”.

During the call, the person said the baby girl was initially taken to the Al Sadd emergency unit, which has long been a key centre for pediatric care, on December 27 to treat her fever.

The caller went on to say that the doctors at the medical facility injected the baby with an IV drip in an effort to treat her rising temperature.

That’s when the baby’s health plummeted.

“The IV drip was injected through her hand and the moment it started to activate, the girl screamed on her mother’s lap and turned blue and black,” the person told the local radio show.

The mother screamed in fear after finding out that there was air in the syringe, which was removed by the nurse and injected once again as the baby continued to scream in pain.

When the parents complained to the medics on site, they said that the presence of air was “normal” and “needles release the air on their own.”

Read also: Qatar’s PCR ‘crisis’, what is really happening?

After the needle was re-injected, the baby’s heart temporarily stopped, and doctors spent 22 minutes resuscitating her.

Following the horrors the parents experienced at the emergency room, they rushed to Sidra Medicine, where doctors conducted a scan on the baby to find damaged brain tissues and determined that the child is “neither dead nor alive.”

Commenting on what medics at Hamad Hospital’s pediatric unit told the parents regarding the removal of air from the needle, doctors at Sidra said told them “it is impossible for this to happen,” and that the nurse is required to manually remove the air.

Now, the parents are calling on Qatar’s Minister of Health Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari​​​ to investigate the matter and work on facilitating the baby’s travel for treatment abroad, in addition to compensating them if the investigation proves such a lethal error was indeed made by medical staff at the pediatrics unit in Al-Sadd.

The complaint comes as parents in Qatar take to digital platforms and local media outlets to express their distress over the situation at the children’s emergency centre at Al Sadd.

A prominent Snapchat blogger Mohammed Al Dosary, commonly known as Dr Hmoud, echoed the concern of many parents in the country over the limitation of centres for babies, struggling to get proper medical assistance for his two-month old daughter.

Al Dosary also called on Dr. Al Kuwari to step out of her house and personally witness the situation at the health centre.

For years, Qatar’s healthcare has been ranked as one of the highest in the Middle East, with free medical assistance available for citizens and residents alike.

However, the latest spike of cases of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, appears to have placed the healthcare system at a critical point, with concerns over overcrowding at hospitals and lack of adequate PCR testing.

________________________________________________________________