The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has received a report from the New Taipei City Government about the death of a two-year-old boy nicknamed En En (恩恩), whose family has accused the city of slow action to provide emergency services after he developed complications from COVID-19, the center said yesterday.
En En tested positive for COVID-19 on April 14. His health deteriorated and his parents called 119, the CECC’s 1922 hotline and a local public health center for emergency assistance that day.
An ambulance arrived 81 minutes after the first call to 119.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
After six days of treatment, En En died of brainstem encephalitis.
The case sparked controversy as En En’s father on May 27 began asking the CECC and the city government for the recordings of the emergency calls and asking why it took so long for the ambulance to arrive.
The father said that he faced obstacles in obtaining the data.
He asked if his son’s death was partially due to the delay in medical treatment and whether the city government’s policy was to only send an ambulance to a confirmed COVID-19 case after gaining approval from health authorities.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), the CECC’s spokesman, on Tuesday last week said that the CECC had asked the New Taipei City Government to submit an official report about the incident.
The city’s health department on Monday said it had filed the report and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday said that the city government would provide additional explanation if the CECC has questions after reviewing the report.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that it had received the report and it would be reviewed by experts.
The CECC would ask the city government to provide more information, including the communication situation between En En’s parents and the local health department before they called 1922 the first time, which shift was on duty at the health department at the time and further explanation about the mechanism to seek approval to send an ambulance, Chuang said.
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