On Good Morning Britain today, a bereaved uncle sobbed over the death of his five-year-old nephew.
Zaheer Ahmed was overcome with emotion as he described his harrowing battle to save Yusuf Mahmud Nazir.
He told hosts Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard that he “begged” Rotherham Hospital staff to admit the child, but was told that they couldn’t create beds out of “thin air.”
Despite being seen by a doctor who told him the child had “the worst case of tonsillitis he had ever seen”, Yusuf was not admitted to hospital.
“I begged them, I begged them. I’ve never begged for anything in my life and I begged and I begged,” said Zaheer.
“I said he needs help, he needs treatment, can you please help him?
“They said ‘what do you want us to do? What do you want us to, find beds out of thin air? We haven’t got the space, we haven’t got the doctors, what do you want us to do?'”
Zaheer claims that when Yusuf began to struggle to breathe, he called an ambulance.
Crew said they’d take the child to Rotherham Hospital, but Zaheer said they didn’t want him to go because they’d already been sent away.
“You do realize you’ve called an ambulance, we’re not a taxi,” he claims he was told.
After getting Yusuf into Sheffield Hospital, the five-year-old was treated immediately.
His severe throat infection was treated with intravenous antibiotics, but it was too late.
Zaheer continued: “The infection had spread. His heart couldn’t take it. He had three cardiac arrests and died.”
The sobbing uncle was comforted by Doctor Hilary Jones, who explained Zaheer wants to raise awareness to stop anyone else dying from the same mistakes.
“It’s about empathy,” said Dr Hilary.
“If we’ve lost that in the NHS, we’ve lost everything.”
“We don’t want anybody to go through what we’re going through,” Zaheer said.
source:summarybio.com
