MANAMA: A pregnant Bahraini woman, 27, died a few hours after her unborn child died in hospital yesterday. Sickle cell patient Jehad Ahmad Rabea'a was admitted to Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) last Sunday with severe pains, her elder sister Sughra told the GDN.

"Doctors are still not sure of how she died, whether she died of sickle cell or due to infection after the baby died in her womb."

She said they were told that the doctor was out of Bahrain and nurses only gave her sister painkillers as she was pregnant.

"When her baby died in the womb, doctors and nurses were unable to do anything to save her, as they had never dealt with such a case before."

Ms Rabea'a was 24 weeks pregnant with her second child, the sister said.

She had first gone to Ibn Al Nafees Hospital in Mahooz but was referred to SMC as she was pregnant, Ms Sughra added.

"She was unable to stand the pain and she kept vomiting."

"Her first daughter, Zahra, is three years old and is desperate to know where her mother is. But we cannot tell her anything as she is too young to know.

Ms Rabea'a, who is the ninth sickle cell patient to die this year, was buried in Sitra cemetery in the presence of family members and friends.

The GDN had reported that a 48-year-old schoolteacher from Bilad Al Qadeem had become the eighth sickle cell patient to die this year on Wednesday.