Lebanon: Palestinian boy, 3, dies after 'hospitals refuse care'

A three-year-old Palestinian boy died after hospitals across Lebanon allegedly refused to provide him with a bed in an intensive care unit. Mohammed Wehbe suffered from a serious brain condition and urgently needed treatment after his condition worsened.

He was admitted to Tripoli's Islamic Hospital on December 14. However, the hospital did not have a bed in the ICU, and when his family contacted at least three other hospitals, they said they were turned down.

He died three days later.

"If he had been admitted to an intensive care unit on the first day, and received the care he needed, he would have still been alive in my lap," his mother, Umm Mohammed, said.

Mohammed suffered from hydrocephalus, a chronic neurological condition in which spinal fluid build-up and puts pressure on the brain.

Umm Mohammed said that the different hospitals gave different pretexts for denying the family help. She claimed that Hammoud Hospital, where the boy had been treated previously, refused to admit Mohammed because they had not paid his previous bill in full. Hariri and Karantina hospitals refused to admit him, she said, because they claimed to not accept patients of other hospitals.

"I accept God's destiny," she told Al Jazeera. "But I curse the hospitals, including Hariri hospital, Karantina hospital and Hammoud hospital."

Mohammed was eventually moved to Tripoli Government Hospital on a promise that he would be moved to the specialised paediatric care unit, but by then it was too late. He died in the emergency ward before he could be admitted.

Mohammed lived in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp with his parents and sister. Fellow residents said they were angered at the failure of even the final hospital, which had a bed in the intensive care unit, to move him there in time.

There have been daily protests in the camp since Mohammed's death.