Family wants death of 9-year-old boy probed

A nine-year-old boy confined at the Philippine Children's Medical Center in Quezon City died at midnight Tuesday after suffering complications allegedly from a "wrong injection." Relatives said victim Alvin Mangahas became hysterical and had convulsions before losing consciousness shortly after a nurse administered an antibiotic on him through injection. "Pina-autopsy ko yan, gusto ko malaman ano talaga kinamatay ng anak ko. Naka-recover na siya sa una. Bakit pangalawa bigla nagkaganoon? Yan ang gusto ko malaman, ano ang kinamatay ng anak ko (We had his body autopsied. I want to know why he died. He seemed fine after the first injection but I don't know why he suddenly acted up after the second injection)," Alvin's mother Evangeline told dzBB radio Wednesday. It was not immediately clear when the first and second injections were administered to the boy. Evangeline said her family has sought assistance from the Quezon City Police District's Criminal Investigation Division (CID) to probe Alvin's death. Alvin's uncle Bernie Naval said they were surprised when the hospital informed them at 1 a.m. Wednesday that Alvin had died. Naval said Alvin was brought to the hospital last week for coughs, colds and a heart condition. He cited initial information that a nurse, identified as "Malou," administered the injection. "Tinurok daw, nag-hysterical ang bata, at nag-convulsion (When 'Malou' injected the medicine, the boy became hysterical and went into convulsions)," he said. But a spokesman for the hospital, initially identified as Dr. Greg Misiona, said they will reserve comment until after the autopsy results are out. "Mahirap magbigay ng comment at this moment, saka na para walang partiality (It's hard to give a comment at this time. Later on we'll give our comment, when there is no more partiality on the matter)," he said in a separate interview. Mrs Mangahas said the medicine administered to Alvin was supposedly an antibiotic, which she said had worked when it was administered to him earlier. She said the boy had even recovered somewhat after the first injection, and doctors told her she can feed him solid food. But after the second injection, she said the boy was shaking. "Kako sa nurse, di ba naturukan na? Sabi ng nurse, ay oo nga pala nanay (I told the nurse, had you not injected him already? The nurse said, oh, yes we have)," she said. - GMANews.TV