A large crowd gathers outside Shah National Children’s Hospital in Korangi where four children, who were on ventilators, died allegedly because the hospital ran out of oxygen. PHOTO: MOHAMMAD NOMAN/EXPRESS
Proving once again that the lives of the ordinary people of this country hold little value to the authorities, a private hospital in the Korangi area of Karachi allegedly failed to provide proper facilities to four children and they died at the facility earlier this month.
According to a report, the children were admitted to the facility the night before their deaths. The hospital placed the infants on ventilators but failed to provide uninterrupted oxygen supply to them. As the infants died one after the other, the families began protesting at the facility, ransacked the hospital offices and took to the streets to raise their voices against the alleged malpractice.
The fact that the health authorities did not take any measures following this incident shows that there is still no regard for the precious lives lost every day. Following an incident of this magnitude, the hospital administration must have been taken to task. The owners should have been arrested and the doctors questioned about the complications that led to the deaths.
Even if we believe the hospital’s stance that the infants were already in critical condition when they were admitted and there was little they could do, there is a need for medical practitioners to advise and counsel the families in a professional manner so they can deal with their losses. It is the absence of proper counselling that leads families to take the law into their own hands, and cause damages to property in an attempt to seek justice.
What is also needed is for the health ministry to conduct proper surveys of all private medical facilities in the country, make sure they follow international standards and are able to provide adequate help to their patients. In fact, stricter regulations must be implemented before anyone is allowed a medical licence to set up a hospital and play with the lives of those who arrive at their doorsteps in dire need.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2014.
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