Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JAZAN — Relatives of a woman who died after giving birth through caesarean section accused the Jazan Health Affairs of negligence and a lack of transparency in investigating their complaint.

Ibrahim Al-Hazazi, the brother of Fatima Al-Hazazi, who died two weeks ago at King Fahd Hospital in Jazan said, “The Health Affairs directorate has not been transparent in its investigations into the death of my sister.”

He said the directorate was acting as if it was trying to clear itself of the responsibility in his sister’s death. “My sister died due to a medical error committed by the staff at the hospital,” said Al-Hazazi.

He added that the case was forwarded to a technical committee under the directorate.

“We asked them to give us access to the files but they refused saying they are confidential documents. I suggested the case to be investigated by an independent committee outside of the Health Affairs directorate. My sister was a pharmacology student and she had interned in the same hospital. After giving birth to a girl she wanted to get out of the hospital as soon as possible before the medical staff would inflict any damage on her or her daughter because she was aware of deficiencies in their performance. But she died before we were able to take her out,” said Al-Hazazi.

He said he wanted the minister of health to interfere in this case and take a stance as the Health Affairs in Jazan was not being cooperative.