LONDON: A family in Britain who 鈥渂egged and begged鈥� for their nephew to be admitted to hospital have told Sky News the boy would still be alive if they had been listened to.
Five-year-old Yusuf Mahmud Nazir died on Nov. 21 after being refused admittance to Rotherham General Hospital as staff said 鈥渢here are no beds and not enough doctors,鈥� even though the doctor treating him described it as 鈥渢he worst case of tonsilitis he had ever seen.鈥�
Nazir first complained of a sore throat on Nov. 13, with his GP prescribing antibiotics, but as his condition worsened his parents took him to the Rotherham emergency department.
Nazir鈥檚 uncle Zaheer Ahmed told Sky News that the family waited all night to be seen by a doctor, who after examining the child sent him home despite Nazir struggling to breath, being unable to swallow and clearly in a distressed state.
Paramedics were called to the family home, but with the infection having spread to his lungs, he experienced multiple organ failure leading to a series of cardiac arrests that killed him.
Ahmed told Sky News that Nazir 鈥渟topped breathing, he stopped talking, when he was choking, he couldn鈥檛 breathe. He was struggling. And it鈥檚 led to his life being taken at 5 years old.
鈥淚f they would have treated him where we wanted him to be treated, he would be here with us now. He would have been here playing like he was.
鈥淲e鈥檝e lost a beautiful child 鈥� It鈥檚 not his fault. We begged and begged and begged for help. We couldn鈥檛 get it. We just did not get the help we wanted, or we needed, or we should have got.鈥�
Senior paediatric consultants have warned of unsustainable pressure on emergency children鈥檚 services.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 鈥淎ll children deserve the highest levels of care and we are taking urgent action to ensure no families have to experience these kinds of tragedies.
鈥淟ast week we announced up to 拢8 billion ($9.67 billion) for health and social care in 2024/25 and we鈥檙e giving an extra 拢500 million to speed up hospital discharge and free up beds.鈥�