The parents who wished to be known as Ali and Roziah, alleged that HKL may not be equipped with the necessary equipment to conduct the microsurgery procedure to make the penis whole again.
They said the expertise for such a complex surgical procedure is available in Singapore and Saudi Arabia, but that the hospital did not make any effort to take that step.
“We were also not referred to the hospital’s welfare unit for assistance to send our son abroad for medical treatment,” the parents said in a press conference at the hospital here with their lawyer P Uthayakumar.
They claimed that HKL still went on with the penis reattachment surgery despite lacking the facilities on Dec 15.
However, the boy’s situation worsened the next day when the penis head turned black and on Tuesday, the whole penis became black.
Ali narrated how he took his son to a private clinic in Jalan Ipoh on Dec 15, for a what was to have been a simple circumcision procedure.
The doctor however, had accidentally cut off the boy’s penis head using a pair of scissors.
“He admitted to me that he had cut off my son’s penis head,” Ali said.
He added the Standard Three schoolboy was taken to Ramsey Sime Darby Hospital in Kepong here for reconstructive surgery and the doctor from the private clinic even promised to bear the full cost of the surgery.
“However, the specialist in Ramsey referred us to HKL as they do not have experts to conduct such a procedure,” he said.
The couple pleaded to the hospital and health ministry to help their only son to “restore” his manhood.
“I do not wish to see him becoming a ‘handicap’, I want him to grow up as a normal boy,” Ali said as he tried to hold back his tears.
“At least bring him abroad to seek treatment,” he added.
Meanwhile, boy’s mother, Rodziah, said her son had asked her why he is still being warded in the hospital after 16 days.
“I do not know how to answer him other than saying the doctors need to give medication to him,” she said, adding she was heartbroken worrying about what the future will be like now for her son.
Family lawyer Uthayakumar said that he hoped HKL can provide medical reports to the couple so that they are aware of their son’s situation.
He also claimed that following the original negligence during the circumcision procedure at the clinic, the detached penis head was not handled properly.
“We did our research in medical journals and found that the penis head should be put inside a plastic bag with ice saline solution when it was taken away,” he said.
Laser cuts off penis head
A similar incident was reported on Tuesday where part of a 10-year-old boy’s penis was severed during a circumcision procedure at Kajang.
The incident took place on Dec 20 at a clinic located in Taman Cheras Utama at about 8.15pm. The father brought his 10-year-old son for the circumcision procedure.
It was during the surgery that the doctor, using a laser, had inadvertently sliced off the glans (head) of the boy’s penis.
The doctor and the father then rushed the boy to the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) in Bandar Tun Razak.
The doctor informed the father after the procedure that he accidentally cut off the child’s penis head.
He was then referred to HKL from HUKM, where doctors successfully carried out surgery to reattach the penis head.
Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was reported saying they will investigate the matter.