Shafaq News/ "COVID-19 patients are first-class patients." The citizens of al-Fallujah district in al-Anbar governorate have become exasperated with the neglect of Al-Fallujah Teaching Hospital’s management for non-COVID-19 patients, revealing that many patients died as a result of misdiagnosis.

Despite the potential of Al-Fallujah hospital after its reconstruction with international assistance – following the great destruction inflicted by ISIS upon its occupation of the city, the district’s residents complained to Shafaq News agency about the diagnosis chaos and the physicians' poor experience which, they said, it caused the death of many patients. The hospital manages all the patients in the ER as COVID-19 positive and ignores other etiologies, causing the death of many Angina and Heart Attacks patients – the only reason behind which is the hospital’s doctors’ misdiagnosis.

The deceased's relatives are preparing a lawsuit against the hospital's administration for a misdiagnosis that delayed their patients' treatment; they were diagnosed with asphyxiation caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) and then isolated, which later led to their death.

"My father had no past illnesses. He suddenly felt pain in his chest. We rushed him to Al-Fallujah Teaching Hospital. In the emergency room, doctors claimed that my father is COVID-19 positive, and they started treating him accordingly - not to mention oxygen devices he was connected to until he passed away. Then, he was put in the COVID-19 morgue", Mahmoud Ahmed told Shafaq News agency.

"But the biggest shock that I was unable to absorb at the beginning was when a specialist at the hospital came to offer his condolences, and by chance started reading my father's medical charts and discovered that my dad did not have coronavirus (COVID-19), but rather a heart attack and he was supposed to be transferred to the reanimation chamber”, Mahmoud added.

"I will not stop until I claim my right by law, and if the law does not serve justice, I will resort to tribal custom. Although I am sure that the hospital’s administration will falsify the facts, but I will spare no effort. If my father’s blood, who was killed in the hospital, is wasted, then God wastes no right", Mahmoud said.

Sameer Ashraf told Shafaq News agency, "my brother Ahmed was admitted to the operation room of Al-Fallujah Teaching Hospital for an Appendicitis. Although we warned the medical staff not to treat him with Penicillin - because he was allergic to it - they did. My brother went into a coma that lasted four days before he died”.

"I filed a lawsuit against the hospital at Al-Fallujah police station, and also in the court. I even filed a complaint in the al-Anbar Health Directorate, the Doctors' Union, and the Ministry of Health, yet I did not get the right of my son, who left three children behind without a provider”, Sameer’s father added.

Mohammed Inad, a resident from the district, told Shafaq News agency, "we were prompted to go to other hospitals, where we stay for an hour or two waiting for doctors to come and check on the patient. I experienced this situation more than once, and unfortunately, this phenomenon is only getting worse”.

For his part, an employee in the hospital administration, who preferred to remain anonymous, admitted to the medical errors, “Indeed there are many medical errors. The reason behind this is many doctors' lack of experience - especially the new residents at the hospital. Besides, new medical devices were installed with no proper training or workshops. Another major cause of this mess is the lack of follow-up committees or investigation in every incident caused by medical errors”.

"There are medical and technical matters that citizens should not interfere with because there are scientific standards that doctors follow to examine patients. These things are not tribal for citizens to interfere with", said Ayad Al-Nada, director of the Al-Fallujah Teaching Hospital.

"There are prognoses, clinical signs, other medical procedures, tests, scans, etc., to confirm the patient's condition, and these things are not a matter of diligence. We are following the medical and scientific approach, and the citizens' accusations against the medical staff are unfounded," Al-Nada concluded.