Boy’s injury an accident, says Education Dept

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Fatimah plays with the injured boy during the hospital visit.

Fatimah plays with the injured boy during the hospital visit.

KUCHING: The state Education Department describes it as an accident the nine-year-old Penan boy from SK Bario who was seriously injured on the forehead recently.

Its human development management sector head Ambrose Jarit said based on investigation conducted by the school and Baram Education office, the March 28 incident happened when the boy and a schoolmate were playing with their respective friends behind the boarding school.

“The schoolmate unintentionally threw a stone and not a brick as alleged, towards the place where they hung clothes and at that time, the victim was coincidently chasing after a ball from the opposite direction. It was unfortunate that the stone hit the left eyebrow of the victim,” he told a press conference at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), here, yesterday.

The press conference was held when Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah visited the victim yesterday.

Ambrose said when the schoolmate saw the victim was hit by the stone he immediately went to the boy, lifted him up and sent him to the boarding school assistant manager.

“After being given treatment the assistant manager sent him to Bario Clinic for treatment by a doctor there. The victim was given five days of sick leave and was brought home by his parents.

“However, the boy felt weak the next day (March 29) and was again sent to Bario Clinic. After examining the victim, the doctor referred him to Miri Hospital.

“On March 30, the victim was referred to SGH by Miri Hospital for further treatment because there was a blood clot on his left eyebrow. When he reached SGH, the doctor conducted an operation on him.”

Dr Patrick Kho who treated the boy said his condition was stable when he was referred to the SGH.

“He was still alert but a CT-Scan showed there was an extradural haemorrhage which meant we had to operate to remove the clot.

“He is now recovering well. He only needs follow-up treatment. It is unlikely that the boy will suffer from any complication.”

Dr Kho expects the victim to be discharged soon.

Meanwhile, the hospital’s social welfare worker is currently arranging for transportation to fly the boy and his parents back to Miri.

Fatimah, meanwhile, said all schools were required to follow the safety guidelines as contained in the School Safety programme.

Besides that, she said the Education Ministry had also covered all students with insurance.