Baby dies after hospital security refuses mother access

DHQ Hospital’s management, DCO take notice of incident launch inquiry

JHELUM: A baby died in the District Headquarters Hospital Jhelum after a security officer refused to allow the child and its mother in since she did not have an identity card.

The District Commissioner and the Medical Superintendent at the hospital took notice of the incident on Tuesday.



On Monday, three-month-old Aqib Ali from Dhoke Waziran in Domeli fell ill. His mother rushed him to the hospital. But a security officer there stopped her from going in, arguing that she did not have her Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) on her.

She kept arguing with the security officer for over an hour, showing the guard a slip from the doctor, but the guard did not budge. She stated that she had left her ID card at home in the rush to get her sick child to the hospital.

Aqib eventually died in his mother’s arms when he was not provided with any medical treatment.



Following the incident, the hospital’s MS Dr Athar Usmani took notice of the boy’s death, and suspended the security officer and launched an inquiry. Deputy MS Dr Saira will lead the inquiry and is expected to submit a report of the incident.

On Tuesday, the Jhelum DCO Iqbal Hussain Khan took notice of the incident and sought a report from ter should be determined through an inquiry.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2017.