Baby boy dies while on holiday with his parents in Algarve after suddenly falling ill with septicaemia

A BRITISH baby boy has died in an Algarve hospital after falling ill while on holiday with his parents.

The 11-month baby lost his fight for life while awaiting a transfer from an intensive care unit at Portimao Hospital to Faro Hospital – a 50-minute drive away.

The youngster was pronounced dead late on Friday after his condition worsened.

The tragedy has led to demands for an investigation in Portugal after it emerged a medicalised helicopter had to be scrambled to take the youngster to Faro because a lack of specialist staff made a normal transfer by road impossible.

The unnamed child, thought to have fallen ill with bronchitis before medics discovered he had septicaemia, was kept at Portimao Hospital after his condition worsened and died later the same day.

Initial reports which were later refuted by health chiefs claimed the child lost his fight for life after waiting to be transferred for six hours due to a lack of specialist staff.

Respected Portuguese daily Correio da Manha said medics on the Algarve had initially sought a transfer to Santa Cruz Hospital in Lisbon before the decision to use an air ambulance to take the baby to Faro was made.

The youngster has been described locally only as a “foreign child”, but well-placed sources confirmed today he was British and was on holiday with his family.

A spokesman for Portugal’s National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM), said it had a received a request from Portimao Hospital to transport an 11-month-old baby to an intensive care paediatric unit at 2.18pm local time on Friday.

They insisted the child was being “properly accompanied” by the hospital’s paediatric teams at the time.

In a statement it added that the Faro Hospital was “without paediatrics” and the paediatric ambulance was “inoperative”.

The INEM spokesman said the baby suffered a “worsening of its clinical condition which prevented the transfer and led to the medical teams returning to Portimao Hospital around 5.45pm after initiating procedures for the helicopter journey.”

The agency added in its statement: “INEM deeply regrets the outcome of this situation and we send our sincere and heartfelt condolences to the baby’s family.”

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