Father: Daughter’s Death Not Related to Poisonings

Date: 04 March 2023 - 21:48

News ID: ۱۱۳۰۷۵

TEHRAN -- The father of an Iranian girl has roundly dismissed Western media allegations that her daughter died following a recent poisoning incident at her school in the central holy city of Qom, emphasizing that she had been suffering from an infectious disease and kidney disorder prior to her demise.
Abulqasem Rezaei said her 11-year-old daughter, Fatemeh, had not attended classes at Toliat Elementary School, where she studied, for nearly three weeks, and that no poisoning of schoolgirls had been reported at the educational center.
“My daughter’s pain and infection started about a week before her death. Even before she was racked with the pain, she had not gone to school in person for a total of three weeks. My daughter’s school was closed for the first two weeks due to heating system repairs, and the week after she did not go to classes due to our concerns over her situation,” he said.
Fatemeh was initially taken to Imam Reza Hospital by her parents at 15:14 a.m. local time (1144 GMT) on February 23 due to severe abdominal pain.
The parents explained the course of her disease to the medical staff, and said their daughter’s condition had shown not improvement at home despite watchful healthcare.
The doctors administered urgent treatment, and had to transfer the young girl to Hazrat Fatemeh Masoumeh Hospital the following day for further examinations and specialist treatment.
According to clinical examinations, the patient had problems such as kidney dysfunction and symptoms of an infectious disease when she arrived at the emergency room, and was hospitalized immediately.
Following the results of urea and creatinine tests due to kidney disorder, and the presence of a serious infection in her blood, doctors suggested that she might have contracted a viral respiratory disease and secondary bacterial infections.
Her high body mass index (BMI) and sharp drop in blood platelets further deteriorated her situation, and she suffered a cardiac arrest in the evening of February 24 and passed away.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has instructed Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi to investigate reports of student poisonings in some schools.
“Follow-up and immediate probe into the matter is of utmost importance,” Raisi said at a cabinet session on Wednesday, adding that regular updates should be provided to ease the families’ worries.
“We must get to the root of the issue as soon as possible,” he added.
Raisi said the ministries of health and intelligence, and other relevant institutions will work with the interior ministry to address the issue.
On Friday, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said the mysterious poisonings are in line with a hybrid war being waged on the country by the enemies.
He said the enemy, as part of a psychological war, is “seeking to create stress and anxiety among students and parents so that chaos is formed”.