Medical report error denies treatment for Madinah child

Saudi Gazette report MADINAH — A wrong medical report has denied specialized medical treatment for a 12-year-old boy Naif ,who suffers from muscular dystrophy —progressive weakness or loss of muscle mass. Dr. Fouad Deqel, spokesman of the health department in Madinah, said a medical report of the specialist revealed that the child developed symptoms of dystrophy when he was three years. “He was not able to move and depended on a wheelchair for his mobility,” he told Al-Madina Arabic daily. He denied the father’s accusation that the child’s age in the medical report was wrong. But the child’s father said his son was hit by dystrophy when he was 10, not three as mentioned in the medical report. “Naif never showed signs of muscle weakness in his childhood and there is no medical report to prove that,” he said. He said he observed the symptoms when Naif was studying in Class V, when he faced difficulty to move around and he was taken to Uhd General Hospital for treatment. “His condition deteriorated further when he was 11 and stopped going to school. He was taken to King Fahd Hospital in Madinah two years ago,” the father said. Doctors at the Maternity and Children’s Hospital, where he was taken for specialized treatment, said Naif was suffering from muscular dystrophy. In its report, the hospital also pointed out that the boy showed symptoms of the disease when he was three. “When a doctor suspected that Naif could be suffering from minor scoliosis on his spine, he was referred to an orthopedic surgeon who advised me to take him to an advanced medical center to treat scoliosis,” the father explained. Naif was taken to a specialized medical center in Jeddah. “Doctors at the center then told me that the child was suffering from the disease since he was three years old and it was difficult to treat it now,” the father said. Naif’s father tried to convince doctors that his son developed the condition when he was 10, but the center refused to accept the case, saying the report must be changed to admit him. The father has approached the health department in Madinah to get the medical report changed.