Free State toddler dies during tooth extraction 

Close up of child's hands drawing.
The Free State health department says the child's death has devastated the clinical teams. (Freepik)
Close up of child's hands drawing.
The Free State health department says the child's death has devastated the clinical teams. (Freepik)

The Free State health department is investigating the death of a four-year-old girl during a  tooth extraction at Botshabelo District Hospital on Wednesday. This is the second patient death reported in the province in the last week. 

According to the young mother who asked not to be named, ‘the dentist wasted time even when she realised the child was not responding to medication’.

“She was due for her appointment to remove four of her teeth. The patient health procedure was followed because the dentist asked me about any medical condition of my daughter before she could help her.

“She then gave her three pain injections in her arm and she proceeded with the tooth extraction. But my girl never woke up again.

“The dentist said my baby would be awake 30 minutes after the operation. After 30 minutes there was no change. The dentist asked that we wait for an hour or two,” says the sobbing mother.

She adds that after realising that there’s no sign of her daughter waking up, she was taken to the emergency room where she “saw many doctors attending my child, she was put on an oxygen machine that failed to resuscitate her, they then said her lungs weren’t responsive and they declared her dead.”

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In a statement, Free State Department of Health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi says the girl’s death has devastated the clinical teams. 

“In an unusual turn of events, the hospital has sadly lost this young girl in what is the first adverse event after almost four years of successful children tooth extractions that has benefitted more than a thousand patients and happy parents.”

MEC of Health Viceroy Mahlatsi has ordered the closure of the dentistry unit citing investigations.

“We are subjecting this matter to a thorough adverse events investigation as it is a very unusual occurrence. Our highly trained professional staff were in charge of this procedure and have done many procedures successfully on the same day, and in previous times resulting in happy children and satisfied parents,” says Mahlatsi. 

“It is understandable that this incident would have shocked the family and nothing may immediately make sense to both the clinicians and the family but the hospital is doing everything in its ability to get to the bottom of the matter, so that the family can get answers and the clinicians can also clearly understand what may have gone wrong. ”

According to the department, Botshabelo District Hospital is one of the best performing health facilities in the Free State. 

“Despite many of the successes that the hospital has previously achieved, this single incident has devastated the clinical community but must never be allowed to negatively dent the image of the hospital that will still need to continue meeting the needs of many people that are dependent on it. ”

The department is also investigating the death of a patient at Manapo Hospital in Qwaqwa. – Health-e News 

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