"If a doctor had been on duty at the time, my daughter would have not been like this," says Pakhasorn Siri-noraset of the brain damage caused to her one-year-old girl.

Na-ponsuang Prakhunwong, or "Nong Chaokhong", was born on May 22 last year at Kasemrad Sukhaphiban 3 Hospital in Bangkok. She has been kept there ever since due to a hitch with her delivery.

Pakhasorn said she arrived at the hospital to give birth at 2.30am on May 22 and nurses told her that, given her very large stomach, she would need a caesarean section. However, there was no doctor present until 8am, by which time it was too late for a caesarean section as the baby's head had already emerged from the uterus. Since an operation was out of the question, the doctor tried to get her to deliver the baby naturally, she said.

Recalling the painful experience, Pakhasorn, 35, said she believed the delay at the hospital caused Nong Chaokhong to sustain a brain lesion and nerve damage to her neck and right arm. Another doctor, who did not assist in the delivery, told her that the baby would live for only three or four weeks.

But a miracle did prevail, and Nong Chaokhong was still alive after three weeks, although she had to be fed milk via a pump. Pakhasorn said the hospital staff admitted that they had done wrong and were willing to treat the baby's brain lesion.

Nong Chaokhong's father, Naruepon Prakhunwong, 44, said he stopped working as a freelance event organiser to look after his new daughter and wife.

Two months later the family moved to a room in the patient ward.

The father noticed that the baby's right arm was underdeveloped.

"Doctors told me they could operate on her when she was six months old, but her condition seemed worse every day so we couldn't wait any more," he said. When the girl was four months old, the couple took her to Siriraj Hospital for an operation, after which the girl's right arm improved. He said Kasemrad Sukhaphiban 3 Hospital had provided them with childcare appliances and facilities such as the pump and the room, but did not straight away cure the baby's severe condition as had been promised.

"Our daughter's condition forced us to stand up and fight. We decided to write a letter to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary, and in only three weeks, we got a reply," he said.

"We were so happy then. After the letter, we got Bt1,000 a month from the Social Welfare Department and help in processing documents so that things ran more smoothly when we went to Siriraj," he said.

In January, the family filed a claim for their daughter's condition with the National Health Security Office (NHSO), which said what happened was an unavoidable accident and paid them Bt250,000.

"It was not an unavoidable accident. If a doctor were on duty that day, as one should have been, my daughter wouldn't be like this. Hospitals should keep up standards in healthcare systems even though we're patients under the Bt30 universal healthcare scheme. Their mistake caused my daughter's future to dim," said the frustrated Pakhasorn.

She believes there are hundreds of similar cases that haven't yet seen the light of day.

On May 21, the couple decided to sue Kasemrad Sukapiban 3 Hospital and the NHSO for their child's disabilities.

"We'll fight for our daughter's future and higher standards at hospitals. The Bt30 programme's hospitals should be better. The NHSO has a duty to ensure a good standard at its hospitals but they ignored it until this serious thing happened to my family," Naruepon said.

The family plans to go home this week, with the doctor's permission, as they believe the child should socialise with other youngsters.

The couple said the Bt57. 9 million in compensation demanded in the complaint was not worth their child's misery.

"If we win and get the money, we'll start a foundation to assist children like my daughter nationwide," Pakhasorn said.

Pasara Puthamat

The Nation