Sharjah: Police are investigating the death of an Indian nurse who died after a private clinic allegedly gave her a wrong injection here last week, officials said on Sunday.
The husband of the mother-of-two filed a police complaint after 32-year-old Blessy Tom died on November 29. Joseph Abraham said his wife was given “wrong medication” at the medical centre where she was taken following a breast infection.
The police are investigating if this is a case of medical negligence by the clinic located on Wasit Street. Meanwhile, an official said the Ministry of Health will start an investigation after receiving her file case from the police.
In his complaint, Abraham accused the doctor and the staff of negligence. “I believe there was a medical error committed that led to my wife’s death,” he said. Blessy, who worked as a nurse at Sharjah University City Hospital, leaves behind two children — four-year-old daughter Jefraza and one-year-old son Jefron.
On November 29, Blessy, who was nursing her child, complained of pain in her right breast when she visited the medical centre. A doctor gave her a Ceftriaxone injection. After her condition worsened, she was transferred to Al Qasimi Hospital around 7pm. She died the following morning at 2am.
The death certificate issued by the hospital stated that Blessy died of cardiac arrest due to anaphylactic shock.
An officer from Wasit police station said the private medical centre has been directed to produce Blessy’s file along with details of her treatment from the day she went to the centre to the day her death certificate was signed. He said the medical centre staff who treated her would be investigated.
Sharjah Public Prosecution has ordered Blessy’s body be moved to the forensic laboratory for a post-mortem.
“The diagnosis was correct, but the medication was wrong,” a friend of the family told Gulf News.
The medical centre staff did not take necessary precautions while giving the injection to Blessy and her infection did not require a huge amount of the antibiotic, he said. Blessy’s family members said they want the incident investigated so that “this mistake is not repeated with other patients”,
Nibin said Blessy had been planning to go to Fujairah to celebrate the UAE National Day.