TRIPOLI, Lebanon: A brief sit-in was held Wednesday in support of a detained nurse from al-Youssef Hospital and a receptionist from Rahhal Hospital in the northern Akkar district.
But the protest was called off after the two were released following interrogations over the recent death of a four-month-old boy, Abdel-Raouf Mounir al-Houli, who was denied admission to both hospitals.
The hospitals had told the family that there was no empty bed for him.
While hospital officials admitted they denied the boy access, they said they urged the father to rush him to the emergency room until they find an empty hospital bed elsewhere in the north, but added that the father insisted on taking the boy home.
Separately, a six-month old girl died Tuesday after being denied admission to Rahhal Hospital, her parents said.
But hospital officials dismissed the allegation, saying baby Inaam Eid, from the Akkar town of Yebnine, was checked into the hospital, suffering from a high fever.
“She was given a suppository and taken to the radiology department for an x-ray, where she passed away,” a hospital official said.
The cause of death is yet to be determined.
Photos taken of Inaam being held in the arms of her mother showed the baby girl was born with a cleft lip and a cleft palate. Children with clefts are at an increased risk of dying during infancy as compared to their peers, according to studies.
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