Saudi boy dies after COVID-19 swab test stick breaks inside his nose

Gulf Today Report

In a tragic incident, a Saudi boy, Abdulaziz has died after the swab test stick broke inside his nose.

The child's father, Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Jawfan, said that his son was having high fever so he brought him to the Shaqra General Hospital last week.

The medical officer decided to do a swab test to confirm that the child was not COVID-19 positive.

Unfortunately the swab stick broke inside the child’s nose.

The panic-stricken doctor insisted on a general anaesthesia to extract the stick.

The operation was successful, but the child was left without a follow-up on the procedure.

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Within 24 hours, he was unconscious and later died at the hospital.

According to the Sabaq news website, Jawfan said, "I agreed to the doctor's request and his decision, where he saw the necessity of taking out the broken stick from my child's nose.

And the child was in good condition, but his temperature had fallen."

The father said after his child’s health deteriorated, he wanted to move him to move to another hospital in Riyadh and contacted an ambulance.

Jawfan said, “We (father and mother) sat in the hospital waiting for the ambulance which did not arrive.

The child was pronounced dead.”

Jawfan has called for immediate investigations into the incident and appealed to the Minister for Health to look into the incident.

Saudi Minister for Health Tawfiq Al Rabiah condoled the family, and promised to follow up on the case.