Medical tragedy takes place in Menoufia

CAIRO - 14 August 2018: A medical tragedy took place in Menoufia during a "purity operation" (circumcision) and caused a child to lose his manhood due to gangrene; the father demands for the doctor to be tried.

Having stood in the health insurance queue for two months waiting for a turn in Ashmoun Hospital for his two sons to do a "purity operation", the father never imagined things to end in such a tragedy on August 4.

Hisham Ezzat Selim, who works in motorcycle maintenance and lives in the village of Subk Al- Ahad in Menoufia, said “God gave me two males and thank God they were in good health until they reached 5 years and 9 months. Their names are Ezzat and Abdo.

Due to a tight budget, I could not take them to a private doctor and had to refer to a health insurance hospital.”

Selim added that, to his surprise, his son complained about the operation but he took him home anyway, believing that things will eventually be okay. However, when his wife tried to reassure the 5 year old child, she came to learn that there was no gauze on the wound and that it appeared rather burnt.

Unfortunately, Selim had to wait until morning to take his child to any doctor only to realize that most of them refused to deal with this case for fear of being held responsible. “I kept looking for a doctor from 3 a.m. to 4 p.m.,” he said.

Everyone in the hospital confirmed that Selim needed to move to a larger, better equipped hospital for treatment. Having arrived at the Shebin El-Kom University Hospital, Selim signed an acknowledgment that his son had a serious condition of gangrene.

Selim confirmed that an operation was carried out so that his son could extract wastes and discharge water from his stomach after being unable to urinate normally. The doctor in the hospital explained that the boy has a serious case of gangrene and that it would require amputation.

The Ministry of Health decided to open an immediate investigation into the serious medical errors of the incident.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in Menoufia, Nassif Hefnawi, also formed a committee to investigate the incident and it was transferred to the Administrative Prosecution.
Medical mistakes that occur can often be drastic and life threatening. However, this is not the first one in Egypt this month.

A 1 year old girl died after being injected with a drug in a pharmacy. Her mother shared that the little girl was suffering from chest allergies and that she had previously taken her to a doctor who prescribed a specific antibiotic injection.

However, when the mother went to the pharmacy for the injection, the pharmacist asked her to wait outside. Meanwhile, the pharmacist injected the girl with an unknown type of syringe that caused her death.