KOTA BARU: Devastated. This describes the condition of a couple whose 3-month-old son is about to lose part of his left leg.

They claim this was due to negligence by a doctor at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Atfan Mohamed, 37, an Immigration officer in Selangor, said Mohd Danish, the youngest of their four children, would soon undergo surgery to amputate his leg from below the knee at the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital (HUSM) here.

"According to the specialist doctor at HUSM, my son's leg cannot be saved and it will have to be amputated in two or three days," he said here yesterday.

Atfan said his son was first admitted to the private hospital for a week when he was a month old.

"Two or three days after he was discharged, my son came down with diarrhoea and vomiting. I took him back to the hospital and he was admitted for another week."

He claimed his son's leg became swollen and turned black after a doctor at the private hospital gave him an injection for the diarrhoea and vomiting.

Atfan said there were injection marks on both of Danish's legs and arms.

He took Danish back to the hospital when his limbs became swollen.

"The hospital did an X-ray on my son and then allowed us to take him home after giving us several types of medicine.We were told to bring him back to the hospital if the swelling did not go down after a few days."

The father said the family returned to Kelantan after that.

Danish was taken to HUSM when he became unconscious.

He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit there for a week.

The doctors there managed to treat the swelling on Danish's right arm.

"But my son's left leg started to turn black. The doctors said the infection had spread and that the leg could not be saved any more."

Atfan said he had taken half-pay leave to care for his son.

He said he was waiting for the medical reports from HUSM before lodging a police report.

He is also planning to take legal action against the private hospital.