A FAMILY of Nasarata in Somomsomo, Taveuni, is mourning the death of their 10-month-old baby who died after allegedly choking on a highlighter pen cap.
Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro confirmed the incident which happened last Tuesday.
Ms Naisoro said the baby was rushed to the Waiyevo Hospital by his mother where he died.
“We are waiting for the post mortem (examination) report as investigations continue,” she said.
The father of the deceased baby, Viliame Qerewaqa, said he was not happy with the way hospital staff in Taveuni treated his child, Nemani Ravonu.
“Medical staff resuscitated him as if they were dealing with a big man when he is only 10 months and they didn’t allow us in while we saw them injecting our poor baby,” he claimed.
“The hospital failed to inform me of the update into my baby’s case and neither did they inform police of his death even when we insisted.
“I saw the pen cap that medical personnel removed from my baby’s mouth drenched in blood and the thought of losing my third child is really sad.”
Mr Qerewaqa said Nemani was with his mother at home when he picked up the highlighter pen cap and swallowed it while his mother was cooking.
“I think that our medical personnel need to be taught how to treat these fragile cases because I do not believe they do,” he said.
“When we arrived at the hospital, there were no doctors, but only one nurse at the children’s ward.”
Ministry of Health and Medical Services said on Saturday that they would look into the concerns raised and respond later.
