Khaleej Times
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Contaminated Food Likely Cause of Childrens’ Death
Amira Agarib

16 June 2009
DUBAI - The Dubai Municipality (DM) is awaiting the lab report on food samples 
collected from the Al Nahda-based restaurant, but the preliminary report 
received by the police indicates food contamination, a Dubai Police source told 
Khaleej Times on Monday.

The municipality had shut down the restaurant as a precautionary measure after 
two children – a seven-year-old girl and her five-year-old brother – died of 
suspected food poisoning after eating the food supplied by the restaurant.

The police source said while the restaurant owner and some other employees were 
detained, the final report from the General Department of Forensic Services, 
was still awaited.

Earlier, municipality officials said the restaurant will not be allowed to 
operate unless it gets a clean chit in the municipality’s investigation and lab 
tests being carried out at the Dubai Central Laboratory.

Meanwhile, the mother of the children, who was discharged from a private 
hospital on Sunday, accused the hospital of negligence. Ann Sophie said the 
hospital discharged the kids after giving them medicines for stomach pain 
without doing a medical check-up.

“We had our dinner at 7pm on Friday. I didn’t notice anything abnormal in the 
food as I also ate with them. At night, the kids started to throw up and their 
situation worsened. Accompanied by our housemaid, I took them to the hospital 
that is located near my house. In the mean time I, too, started developing the 
same symptoms,” she said with tears in her eyes.

She said that while the hospital admitted her into the ICU, they gave normal 
medication to the kids without doing a medical check-up. Sophie said she didn’t 
ask the hospital to discharge the children, but the hospital gave them 
permission to leave without informing her. She said that after three hours, the 
children’s condition worsened, so she took them again to the hospital and her 
son  died an hour later.

She alleged that the hospital refused to treat her daughter after which she was 
transferred to the Dubai Hospital.

The girl passed away three hours after her brother’s death. The mother said 
that she didn’t receive the children’s bodies from the General Department of 
Forensic Medicine.

When contacted, a senior representative of the hospital denied the allegations. 
He said that the children were brought by their mother early on Saturday, after 
which urine and blood tests were conducted. Around 9am, the doctors gave the 
mother a choice to either take the kids home or keep them in the hospital as 
their condition was stable, the representative said.

He said that the mother was asked to come back with the kids if there was 
anything wrong. The mother came back around 1pm and one of the kids was 
unconscious. The hospital tried to revive him, but in vain. The other child was 
immediately referred to the Dubai Hospital and an ambulance was provided, the 
official said.  

The police source told Khaleej Times the family could take legal action and 
lodge a separate complaint with the police if they suspect negligence. While 
Sophie hails from France, the father, Patrick D’souza is an Indian national 
working with the Emirates airline.

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