DUBAI // A couple who launched complaints with the authorities after the death of their newborn son say they will return to the Philippines to bury him after the investigations are complete.
"It is really tragic. We were blessed and after that, he was taken away," said Nolly Rizo Jose, 34, the baby's father.
Born five weeks premature and weighing 1.9 kilograms, Alex Gabriel was delivered last week without complications, said Mr Jose and his wife, Katherine Rizo Fernandez, 33.
But two days later, on the afternoon the mother and child were to be discharged from Canadian Specialist Hospital, the baby died of what doctors believe to be cardiac arrest. The grieving parents, who believe the baby was born healthy enough to have survived, have lodged a complaint of negligence with Dubai Police and the Dubai Health Authority.
"We went back to the hospital, but the medical report was not available, so we went directly to the police station to file a complaint," Mr Jose said.
Hospital officials say all measures were taken to save the child.
The infant, nicknamed Baby Gab, was delivered without complication, said Mr Jose, who has worked in the Emirates for almost eight years.
Until the baby's death last Wednesday, the couple had not had reason to worry about his health, said Mr Jose, who recounted the last evening he and his wife had with their baby boy.
"We were so happy he was doing well. We took pictures, and then around 11pm [on Tuesday] we called the nurse to take the baby to the nursery."
The baby was first moved to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before being placed in the nursery.
He was kept in the unit for 24 hours, said Dr Shoaib Shahzad Khan, head of the hospital's paediatric and neonatology department.
"We explained to the parents that the baby would be kept in the NICU for 12-24 hours under observation, as he was small, and his breathing was a little fast."
The baby was kept under observation, and showed no other complications, said the doctor.
"His condition improved dramatically by the next morning, and oral feeds were commenced. The mother was also encouraged to breast-feed. As the condition was stable, the baby was transferred to the nursery on the evening of January 10 at around 10pm," Dr Khan said.
But several hours after the baby had been taken in for treatment, the couple discovered that he had died. Having been assured that their child was healthy by the doctor who assisted in the delivery, the couple was left bewildered by the manner of his death.
All measures were taken to help the child, said Dr Khan, who was notified of the situation by a nurse who found the baby to be "completely pale and blue".
The nurses on duty had moved the child to a resuscitation trolley upon his arrival, he said.
"I was called from my clinic to come to the nursery urgently. The NICU doctors, nurse in charge and other senior nurses were actively resuscitating the baby. On examination there was no heart beat or respiratory effort and the baby was completely cyanosed [his skin had a bluish tint]."
After intubating the child, doctors and nurses continued to work on him for half an hour, before declaring him dead at 1.50pm.
It was the first death at the hospital's two-year-old NICU ward.
"The most probable cause of death was aspiration/ cardio-respiratory failure," said the doctor.
"We are extremely regretful of this mortality and extend our full support and empathy to the parents at this difficult time."