JEDDAH – The medical team treating a girl who slipped into a coma after a malignant tumor was removed from her brain at the recently shut down Erfan and Bagedo Hospital in Jeddah has been referred to the Shariah Medical Commission, Director of Jeddah Health Affairs Dr. Sami Badawood said. In a statement to a local daily on Wednesday, Badawood said all members of the treating team were investigated before they were referred to the commission, which will continue the investigations. The 12-year-old girl, Raneem Al-Haddad, has been in a coma for at least 22 days due to complications following the operation. Badawood said there is no change in the girl's condition and she has been kept on ventilation for the past 22 days. He said the doctor in charge of her case has returned to the Kingdom after departing from the country for 24 hours via King Abdulaziz International Airport due to family circumstances. He said the hospital would have borne the consequences for his departure and any decision issued by the Directorate of Health Affairs regarding the case. Meanwhile, in a statement to the press, Dr. Narmar Azzam, Head of the Neurology Department at Erfan and Bagedo Hospital who was in charge of the girl's case, said he was not aware that he was banned from traveling. He said he departed from the airport legally after obtaining an exit/re-entry visa one month ago. He denied the charges leveled against him and allegations that his departure was with the intention of escaping. He demanded Jeddah Health Affairs to prove that the coma Raneem slipped into was due to a medical error by sending consultant neurologists to examine the case. He hinted the coma was due to a brain tumor. He said her father had signed papers giving his consent for the operation after it was made clear to him that there could be complications. He denied allegations by the girl's father that he escaped and that he was the cause for her slipping into a coma. Azzam said that he has been working in the Kingdom as a consultant neurologist for 30 years.
