KK Women and Children's Hospital have investigated a recent accusation of negligence involving one of its doctors and released an official statement on its Facebook page.

The post, which can be seen below, states that the hospital has reviewed the case and found that there were "no lapses in medical care or patient safety".

It also provides further details of the incident.

"A recent post circulating online mentions our hospital and doctor, Dr Peter Wong, with regard to the KKH Children’s Emergency. We have investigated the matter and are in contact with the child and family.

The facts are as follows: When the child was first assessed at the Children's Emergency, she was found to have fever, but was otherwise stable. Our attending paediatric consultant, Dr Peter Wong, who is an experienced and well-regarded doctor, acknowledged the inconvenience caused to the family by the wait, and tried to explain to the parent that there were other patients who were more serious that needed to be attended more urgently and that the child would be attended to as soon as possible. The child’s condition was stable and she was not in danger. If her situation had changed or deteriorated, she would have been attended to promptly.

We understand that the patient then left KKH Children’s Emergency before further medical examination could be conducted. About 12 hours later, the child was again brought to the Children’s Emergency and she was assessed to be stable. She was admitted to the general ward and provided with the necessary care. She was discharged the following day and is now at home.

We have reviewed the case, and there were no lapses in medical care or patient safety.

The hospital’s priority is to provide appropriate and timely care to our patients. As such, emergency cases have to be given priority. KKH is committed to improving our patients’ experience, but parents and caregivers have to also play their part to be responsible and considerate to enable our medical professionals to perform their tasks.

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Febrile seizure

The online post that KKH referred to was uploaded to Facebook on Nov. 14. It included a number of videos depicting a man performing CPR on a drowsy and semi-conscious child.

The woman who posted the videos claimed to be the child's mother and alleged that KK Hospital was negligent in treating the child. She also specifically named Dr Peter Wong as the man responsible.

Her post, which since has been removed, can be seen below.

In time-honoured Singaporean fashion, the doctor was showered with threats and demands for his resignation -- and those were from the more restrained commenters.

However, someone who claimed to work at KKH refuted the accusation of negligence in a Facebook post of his own.

He explained that the child appeared to have experienced a febrile seizure, a frightening but "essentially harmless" condition.

Parents are understandably emotional when it comes to their children's safety, but perhaps medical matters should be left to the medical experts, instead of making unsubstantiated allegations that lead to calls for someone's head.

Top image from Google Maps.