SHARJAH // The mother of an 11-year-old girl who died after an illegal pesticide was used in her family’s apartment building has been discharged from hospital.
The Iraqi woman, who was in a coma for a week after becoming ill on June 30, has been allowed to return home after her condition improved.
However, she is still under medical supervision and must return to hospital every two days for blood tests to monitor her recovery.
“She is still very weak and still needs a lot of physical and mental support because of the devastation that hit her family,” said Dr Safiya Saif Al Khajeh, the medical director of Al Qassimi hospital.
The woman, along with her daughter, husband, six-year-old son and the family’s maid, were taken to Al Qassimi Hospital suffering from what doctors at first thought was food poisoning.
The girl, identified as Farah Ebrahim, died on July 1 of heart failure brought on by exposure to the pesticide aluminium phosphide, known as “bomb”.
The family’s son was taken to Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi for treatment. The father and maid were given the all-clear by medical staff.
After spending a week in a coma, the mother was eventually moved out of intensive care.
Dr Al Khajeh said doctors in Abu Dhabi had taken the boy off ventilators and he is recovering in hospital.
“The mother requested to be discharged to see her son in Abu Dhabi,” said Dr Al Khajeh. The family’s upstairs neighbour, the building’s watchman and two men who sold the pesticide were arrested.
Farah was the fourth person to die after being exposed to illegal pesticides in recent weeks. A three-year-old Bangladeshi girl and her eight-month-old sister died in Ajman on June 1 and a 35-year-old Filipina beauty salon worker died in Fujairah on June 12.
A three-year-old girl who was being treated at hospital after swallowing slimming tablets had also been discharged, said Dr Al Khajeh.
“Doctors have urged her parents to make sure they keep all kinds of medicines out of her reach,” she said.
The youngster swallowed 14 tablets and was brought to hospital unconscious and with an irregular heart beat.
After being examined at the emergency unit she was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit as doctors feared she could suffer a stroke. An investigation revealed the Chinese slimming capsules belonged to one of the girl’s family members who bought them at Dragon Mart in Dubai.
