Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1494347
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 8 MARCH 2023 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Recounting their story to the Australian broadcast news por- tal, 7NEWS, the heartbroken mother says doctors in Mal- ta failed to report their child needed urgent medical care abroad to repair the damaged artery. As a result, when the baby was eventually flown for treatment to the UK, doctors there had to amputate the leg because too much time had passed. "Clinical decisions at Mater Dei Hospital are taken at the discretion of the caring clini- cians," a ministry spokesperson told MaltaToday. "Mater Dei Hospital offers comprehensive health servic- es locally but when clinicians indicate that patients require very specialized care not avail- able locally, the hospital has arrangements in place with foreign specialized hospitals to send patients for treatment/ surgery abroad, including, if need be, urgently." The story starts with what was supposed to be a 'sunny Mediterranean holiday' which quickly turned into a nightmare after their now 10-month-old baby boy's leg "had to be am- putated below the knee after a Maltese medical team's crucial mistake." Zayn Seguna was with his family in Malta in November, then aged seven months, when his parents took him to Mater Dei Hospital to be treated for bronchiolitis. "It breaks my heart... I feel like they (Maltese doctors) de- stroyed his life," the mother of young Zayn, Joanne Seguna said. His mum said doctors had ad- mitted to damaging an artery while inserting a central line during Zayn's treatment. This resulted in restricting blood flow and extensive muscle and tissue damage. "They hit an artery which they realised straight away because his leg went pale, cold, changed colour straight away," she told the news portal. The child was also given Hep- arin, a blood thinner, accord- ing to the mother, as a blood clot had formed. "On day four they told me they don't have a kid's vascular surgeon and said he's going to have to go to the United King- dom to have it looked at and repaired," Joanne said. The next day, the family was flown out of the country via air ambulance for emergency surgery. Within hours, Zayn underwent surgery at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to restore blood flow. Doctors in London hoped at the time, they'd see improve- ments in Zayn's leg. However, because of the ex- tent of muscle and tissue dam- age, they decided the lower half needed to be removed, the mother added, with the sur- geon telling her this situation should have been looked at be- fore. Upon their arrival in Austral- ia, the parents filed a complaint with Mater Dei, and they are still waiting for the hospital's answer. An online fundraiser has raised more than $90,000 to help the Seguna family with Zayn's recovery and to help pay for the cost of the family's ac- commodation and travel back to Australia, as well as their mortgage. The Maltese Health Ministry did not respond to a request for comment from the Australian news portal. MaltaToday has also reached out to the Health Ministry. Joanne told Australian me- dia that although her baby had lost his leg, he was making great progress and had recent- ly started crawling. "I just hope when he grows up, he'll be al- right." Baby Zayn now at 10 months has recovered and his parents hope he will live a full life despite the amputated leg. (Photo: Supplied to 7NEWS) Internal investigation over Australian family's claims of hospital negligence Iċ-Chief Executive Officer, Awtorita' tad-Djar, jgħarraf illi:- Offerti magħluqin għall-Avviżi li ġejjin għandhom jintefgħu fil-kaxxa tal-offerti tal-Awtorita' tad-Djar, 22, Triq Pietro Floriani, Floriana, sal-10.00 a.m. ta' nhar il-Ġimgħa, 24 ta' Marzu 2023. Irid isir ħlas ta' €20 għad-dokumenti tal-offerta u jistgħu jinkisbu mill-Awtorità tad-Djar. L-Awtorità żżomm id-dritt li tirrifjuta kull offerta, anke l-aktar waħda vantaġġuża. Avviż Nru. 6/2023. Kera tale quale ta' Garaxx Nru. 6, taħt Binja Torri tal-Qattus, Triq A. Sammut, B'Kara. Offer taħt € 1,605 fis-sena ma jiġux ikkunsidra . MINISTERU GĦALL-AKKOMODAZZ JONI SOĊ JALI U AFFORDABBLI GVERN TA' MALTA "They hit an artery which they realised straight away because his leg went pale, cold, changed colour straight away."