2007 05: 16-month-old dies after scalding

The Star online. News. Nation. Sunday May 20, 2007

By SIRA HABIBU

ALOR STAR: A toddler is dead, all because his rubber-tapper parents could not bring themselves to wake up the staff members of a nearby rural clinic outside working hours.

Muhammad Irwan Zulhakim Normushamshuri, aged 16 months, died in an ambulance on his way to Alor Star Hospital about 18 hours after he was scalded with hot water in his home in Naka.

He was scalded on the thigh and chest when he accidentally toppled a jug of hot water on Wednesday night.

His mother Zuraidah Jaafar, 25, said the incident occurred at about 8.30pm when she was preparing tea.

“I placed the jug filled with hot water on a low table when my son toppled it,” she said.

Zuraidah could have knocked on the door of the Naka rural clinic personnel quarters but could not bring herself to do it.

“I feel bad knocking on people’s doors at night asking for help. I understand that people need to rest,” she said. The clinic closes at 5pm.

She said that after the incident, Muhammad Irwan Zulhakim was quiet after the initial wailing.
“We assumed that his condition was not that bad,” she said, adding that he developed a fever the following morning. His condition became worse after 11am.

However, she had to wait until 2.15pm when the clinic re-opened after lunch before she could get any medical attention for her son.

The child was then immediately put in an ambulance to be sent to Alor Star Hospital.
“By the time we arrived at the hospital at about 3pm, the doctor pronounced him dead,” she said, adding that her son was buried at 10am on Friday.

Muhammad Irwan Zulhakim’s father Normushamshuri Musa, 27, said he would have rushed his son to the hospital on the night of the incident if he had a car.