RAMALLAH, October 18, 2016 (WAFA) – Minister of Health Jawad Awwad ordered Tuesday the formation of a committee headed by the director of hospitals in the ministry to evaluate the situation at Beit Jala government hospital, according to a brief statement by ministry spokesman Osama Najjar.

He said the committee has started work and will present its findings and recommendations later on Tuesday to the minister.

The decision came after a woman, Fayda Atrash, from Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, went into the hospital for dialysis on October 10 but died apparently while a physician was trying to insert a catheter into her body.

A hospital committee set up to look into the cause of death said it was not due to a medical error.

The family accused a hospital doctor of responsibility for her death. The physician was later arrested on suspicion of committing medical negligence that caused the death of Atrash but he was not officially charged.

Hospital staff went on strike to protest the arrest of the doctor and the way the security forces treated them after the incident.

An autopsy was later conducted on Atrash at the Palestinian Authority‘s Abu Dis Forensic Center but its results have not been made public yet.

A report in Al-Quds daily on Tuesday said the district attorney’s office in Bethlehem has conditioned giving the report to the family on not publishing it since the investigation was still ongoing and evidence related to any investigation should not be made public.

The family, according to the report, rejected this condition.

M.A.