A father wants hospital examination tables to be fitted with safety rails after his baby daughter rolled off one onto the floor. Umair Multani, 30, had taken six-month-old Haneya to Zulekha Hospital in Dubai for a flu check-up. After the examination, the doctor turned away to her computer, said Mr Multani, a British Pakistani who works in sales. "Then the nurse left the baby alone. The baby was turning over. She fell on the ground, skull first," he added. "I heard a loud thud. I was the first to rush to the baby. This is very serious and shouldn't happen."
A CT scan indicated that Haneya was not seriously injured, but her father, who had been a metre or so away when the accident occurred, wants assurances from the hospital that it will not happen again. He made a formal complaint to the hospital on January 3, three days after the incident. Mr Multani did not receive a response until three weeks later, after The National contacted the hospital administration director, who then telephoned Mr Multani to say that the hospital had done nothing wrong.
Mr Multani, from Sharjah, said: "For the hospital not to accept their mistake indicates that they aren't interested in improving the quality of health care. "The lack of feedback initially and the denial of any wrongdoing makes us believe that we need to continue exploring options to bring about positive change. "In this hospital we found some good doctors whom we were comfortable with, before the actions of a few eliminated the trust we had."
Dr Syed Mujtaba, Zulekha's administration director, said the hospital did not accept responsibility for the accident. He said the examination had finished and it was up to Mr Multani to look after his child. "I don't think we have done anything wrong," said Dr Mujtaba. "He should have taken care of his baby. "This is the first time something like this has ever happened in our hospital." However, Dr Mujtaba said he would consult the hospital's health and safety department to investigate the cost and benefits of putting safety rails on baby examination tables.
"It's definitely a new experience and we will try to do whatever we can," he said. "After the incident, we gave the baby a free CT scan as a humanitarian goodwill gesture, but this was not our responsibility." asafdar@thenational.ae
