CAIRO: The Ministry of Health announced the re-opening of three operating rooms at Nile Badrawi Hospital in Maadi after all six were shut down last month by ministerial decree. Minister Hatem El Gabaly had shut down the operating rooms during the ongoing investigations into the death of two patients at the hospital on Oct. 21, both of whom were reportedly victims of defective oxygen tanks during surgery. "The three operating rooms were re-opened since nothing happened in these rooms, however the remaining three rooms, where the incidents took place, are still shut down pending modifications in the rooms and their oxygen pipes, Dr Saad El Maghraby, the head of the investigation committee assigned by the ministry and head of the central administration for non-governmental organizations and licenses, told Daily News Egypt. "After the modifications are done we are going to reexamine the rooms and conclude the investigations, he added. The two victims, 16-year-old Ali Khalifa and 47-year-old Laila Mokhtar, died after undergoing minor surgery. They both experienced serious complications after leaving the operating room, including nervous convulsions. Khalifa's father, Hassan Khalifa, told Orbit TV's nightly talk show "Al-Qahira Al Youm that he blames the hospital for negligence. "This is supposed to be one of the best hospitals and this is what happened. . We are not asking for anything except that this negligence is punished so there wouldn't be more victims, he said. When Hassan Khalifa saw three patients just out of the operating room around the same time suffering the same complications, he became suspicious and reported the incident to the Cairo prosecution office. Authorities immediately launched an investigation and confiscated nearly 35 oxygen tanks from the hospital to test their levels of oxygen and nitrous-oxide.
