Playing with lives: Limbs of 12-year-old girl amputated to save life

A quack in Badin had badly infected her arms and legs through defective medical treatment

KARACHI: Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah expressed displeasure when he learned that a quack in Pangrio, Badin, infected the arms and legs of a 12-year old girl through defective medical treatment. The doctors in Karachi were left with no option but to amputate her limbs in order to save her life.

"This is very serious that the quacks keep playing with the lives of poor and innocent people openly," he said. "But now enough is enough."

Twelve-year-old Najma Khaskheli suffered from diarrhoea and her father took her to a clinic in Pangrio, where she stayed for three days. When she returned home, her arms and legs started swelling. Her father, Hanif, a donkey-cart rider, rushed to the same clinic but the quacks referred her to Karachi. At Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, the doctors severed her limbs because the infection had set there deeply.

Shah has directed the Chief Minister Inspection Team (CMIT) to start an inquiry urgently and interview the people who treated the girl right from the first day. He directed them to find out where what went wrong that the girl had to lose her limbs to save her life. "This is extremely painful and heart-breaking to see a poor girl with bandages on her chopped arms and legs," he said.

He wondered aloud how distressed the little girl would be to find herself in the plight of lifetime disability. This is a crime against humanity and must be dealt with accordingly, he said.

He directed the CMIT chairperson to report to him within seven days. "I don't want to spare the quack whosoever he is," he said.

The chief minister also directed the health minister to start a crackdown against quacks in every corner of the province.

"For God's sake, don't allow them to play with the lives of poor people just for a few coins," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2016.