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Police excavate infant's skeleton in medical negligence probe
Evidence hunt: Jakarta Police forensic team officers secure the grave of Falya Raafani Blegur, a 15-month-old infant who allegedly died of hospital mistreatment
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Evidence hunt: Jakarta Police forensic team officers secure the grave of Falya Raafani Blegur, a 15-month-old infant who allegedly died of hospital mistreatment. The Jakarta Police exhumed Falyaâs body in Bekasi on Friday to probe the mistreatment allegation.(JP/Saf ) (JP/Saf )
Evidence hunt: Jakarta Police forensic team officers secure the grave of Falya Raafani Blegur, a 15-month-old infant who allegedly died of hospital mistreatment. The Jakarta Police exhumed Falya's body in Bekasi on Friday to probe the mistreatment allegation.(JP/Saf )
The Jakarta Police's forensic team on Friday morning excavated the skeletal remains of an infant girl in Bekasi to investigate the causes of her death after her father filed a report complaining of negligence and violations in standard operating procedures (SOP) against Awal Bros Hospital, where the infant girl had been hospitalized before passing away.
Jakarta Police special crimes unit chief Sr. Comr. Mujiono, who led the excavation, said the skeleton would immediately be sent to the police's forensic laboratory in Jakarta to be analyzed before they could released the results of the investigation in the coming 10
to 12 days.
'We are gathering as much information as possible and that's the reason we have excavated her skeleton. We want the results to be released as soon as possible to shorten our investigative process,' he told reporters after the excavation in Kranji, Bekasi, on Friday.
He said the police were currently extracting information from five witnesses in the case.
On Monday evening, the Jakarta Police also raided the hospital and seized several documents to help them with the investigation.
The 15-month-old infant was brought to the hospital by her parents on Oct. 28 after suffering from diarrhea and dehydration, her father Ibrahim Blegur said on Friday. Ibrahim said that her condition continued to deteriorate and she eventually died on Nov. 1 after a doctor at the hospital injected her with antibiotics.
'My daughter was initially getting better. Her body then turned cold and there were blue bumps on her skin after the injection of antibiotics,' he told The Jakarta Post at his home.
He said that after the death of his daughter he requested an explanation from the hospital as to why they had injected her daughter with antibiotics and why the blue bumps had grown on her skin and why her body had turned cold after the injection.
'I did not ask anything else from them. I just asked for an explanation,' he said, adding that weeks after her daughter's death, the hospital had still not responded to his request. The slackness and lack of cooperation from the hospital had led him to report the case to the Jakarta Police.
Ibrahim reported the doctor who treated his daughter with medical negligence and violating SOPs.
Ibrahim said that he had reported the case to the police to prevent more people, especially those from underprivileged economic background, from experiencing mistreatment from hospitals.
'I have the power to report the case to the police but what about other people who may feel powerless to make such a report?' he asked, adding that he had received a letter from an unidentified person supporting his decision to undertake a legal process because the person had had a similar experience with the same hospital.
'From the very beginning, we have been serious about this case and therefore we let the police excavate my child's grave,' he said.
He revealed that the hospital had offered his family Rp 100 million (US$7,236) in compensation, but his family had refused the offer.
'We're not asking for a cent. What we want is an explanation from the hospital as to why my child died.'
'I gave them a good deal of time to give me an explanation before I brought the case to the police. They did not respond,' he added.
Meanwhile, the Awal Bros Hospital refused to comment when the Post contacted them to clarify the matter.
Separately, Muhammad Ihsan, chairman of the Child Protection Taskforce (Satgas PA), said that his organization had stepped in by sending a request to the House's Commission IX, which oversees heath, to talk about the case. 'We plan to meet members of the commission on Dec. 2.' (saf)
