SINGAPORE: A 14-month-old boy had to be rushed to hospital after his mother suspected that he had been prescribed an overdose of cough medicine.



The bottle of Fedac cough syrup, prescribed by a clinic in Bedok, carried instructions to take 10ml of the medicine three times a day. That is four times the appropriate dosage of 2.5ml three times a day for a toddler.

According to the mother Belinda Lum, this happened last Wednesday evening (Nov 22) when they visited YSL Bedok Clinic & Surgery.



“This is the start of my nightmare,” she wrote on fund-raising platform give.asia.

After feeding him with the dosage stated on the bottle, she said her son was “completely knock (sic) out”.

Suspecting that he was suffering from overdose, she rushed him to Gleneagles Hospital. Ms Lum added that her son only woke up a day later on Thursday evening, and still felt drowsy.

“I really hope there is no side effect on his future growth!” she wrote.

CLINIC'S MANAGEMENT OFFERS TO REIMBURSE MEDICAL BILLS

Responding to queries from Channel NewsAsia, the management of Qualitas Medical Group, the parent company of the clinic, said it "would like to apologise" to the boy's family.

"Qualitas has out of goodwill offered to reimburse the child's parents for all medical bills incurred as a result of this unfortunate incident. We invite the patient to our pediatrics unit in Singapore for further reviews," it added.

The medical group also said that it has put together a team to ensure that its safety procedures are reviewed and enforced.

"Qualitas' priority is to provide quality healthcare, where the patient's health is of upmost importance to us. We continuously strive to improve our services offered to our patients and customers at our clinics.

"We want the best for our patients and are relieved to hear that the infant has since recovered. We will continue to engage the parents and wish the patient well," the group said.

Ms Lum explained on give.asia that she started the online appeal to encourage people to share her story on Facebook about the clinic’s “negligence”. For each share, she said she will donate S$1 each to three charities.

A Ministry of Health (MOH) spokesperson said the ministry was aware of the incident.

"MOH takes a serious view of such matters and is investigating the clinic in question and its licensee," said the spokesperson.