BEIRUT: Hospitals denied Thursday that they refused entry to a 4-month baby whose death over the weekend shook the country. The institutions in question, Al-Youssef Hospital and Rahhal Hospital in the district of Akkar, denied in a statement presented during a news conference that they contributed to the death of the infant, Abdel-Rauf Mounir al-Houli, who died over the weekend.
During the news conference, held by the head of the Association of Private Hospitals Sleiman Haroun, representatives from the Al-Youssef Hospital explained that on March 1 Abdel-Rauf’s father, Mounir Houli, arrived at the hospital at around 11 a.m. asking whether there were any beds available for his child, who was in the car at the time.
The hospital said that when the father was told no beds were available, he left without any fuss and without asking the emergency doctor to examine the child.
Houli then headed to the Rahhal Hospital, which is five minutes away from Al-Youssef. The hospital said in a statement that Houli had also asked whether there was space available for his child. The admissions employee had asked him to bring the child into the emergency room to be examined, but Houli refused when told there were no beds, according to the statement.
The statement said Houli left, stating that he didn’t want to take the infant to other hospitals because they were too far away.
The news conference came after a nurse from Al-Youssef Hospital and a receptionist from Rahhal Hospital were detained earlier this week for alleged misconduct, but were later released.
Health Minister Wael Abu Faour Monday has ordered an investigation into the death of Abdel Rauf.
Haroun, the head of the association, defended the hospital employees and decried their detention, saying that they had been proven to be innocent.
The death of Houli was the second recent case of an infant dying without treatment, after Inaam Eid, a 6-month-old girl from the Akkar town of Yebnine, died Tuesday. The girl’s parents say she was denied admission to Rahhal Hospital.
However, hospital officials dismissed the allegation, saying the infant was checked into the hospital and suffered from a high fever.
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