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A father is alleging that his one-month-old baby daughter suffered injuries while she was under the care of KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).
Mr Muhd Darok Mohd Shaffir, the father and sole breadwinner of a family of five children, said that he was shocked when he found that the skin on his daughter's feet was torn and there were bruises and wounds on her feet. This happened when she was at the hospital receiving treatment.
At the time, his daughter, born on 19 October, was placed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) because she had difficulty breathing and required oxygen assistance.
Mr Muhd Darok, who works as a waiter at a coffee shop, visited his daughter about two weeks after she was born, but was instructed by the hospital staff to wait outside while they attended to her. At that point, he felt uneasy.
When Mr Darok saw his daughter, he found her leg bandaged.
"It was then that I saw the injuries on my daughter's feet, which looked like what happens to our skin when it is dragged. I was shocked, angry and sad all at the same time. Imagine how I felt when I saw my daughter, who was perfect when she was born, with those injuries," he said.
He added that it was his first female child after almost 17 years of marriage.
According to Mr Muhd Darok, staff at KKH told him that the injuries were a result of his daughter's movement when the staff tried to attach an IV drip to her for a small operation.
"What has really made me mad is that they did not inform us at all of the procedure that they did on my daughter, or about the injuries that she sustained.”
When she was in NICU, she was also administered morphine on a daily basis for the purposes of sedating her to stop the pain and crying.
"If something like this has happened, we, as her parents, should definitely have been informed," he said.
He also added that KKH had refused to tell him which doctor or nurse had attended to his daughter.
Mr Issac, a friend of Mr Muhd Darok's, shared an image of the injury and what the family went through on his Facebook page. The story garnered much symapthy and much alarm from members of public.
Mr Issac shared that Mr Muhd Darok is feeling really depressed at the moment from the incident and the cost of the treatment.
He also said that the baby girl was only given oral medication and felt that it was a bad call by the hospital staff if they expect the wound to heal by itself.
"My friend waited 17 years to get a baby girl and you can just imagine the hurt," said Mr Issac. "How would you feel as a parent, leaving the hospital with an open infected wound on your baby, together with many unanswered questions?"
Mr Mud Darok was also told by the hospital that it cannot disclose the identity of the medical staff who was responsible for the injury, due to the hospital's rules and regulations. He has since lodged a complaint with the hospital's management and is seeking monetary compensation for his family.
He also had to visit the hospital once every two days when the wound was re-bandaged, to ensure that everything was done properly. He had to pay for this himself as KKH is not covering the treatment.
His daughter was discharged from hospital on 15 November.
The Online Citizen sent an email to KKH on Monday and was directed to the relevant department. However, we have yet to receive a reply since. KKH was also reported by media as saying it could not share information about the case as it did not have permission from Mr Muhd Darok to do so.