Missing infant

In a bizarre incident, the Children’s Hospital in Lahore allegedly exchanged a male infant with a dead baby girl and handed over the body to the stunned parents. The doctors at the medical facility informed the parents that their baby died during treatment due to complications. The parents took the body to their native city of Gujranwala for burial, but the father later returned to the hospital saying he had brought his son for treatment instead of the girl. The shocked hospital authorities issued directions to inquire into the matter, and it later transpired that the baby boy had gone ‘missing’.

The Punjab Health Department took notice of the incident and constituted an inquiry committee comprising senior doctors of the hospital. During the inquiry, the hospital management claimed that the parents took the male baby against medical advice. What is even more bizarre, the hospital administration did not comment on the issue of exchange. Even the report by the inquiry committee focuses on the parents taking away the infant rather than addressing the claims of the parents. This nonchalant attitude is endemic in government departments and authorities. Rather than accept the mistake and ensure it is not repeated, the buck is passed and the victims are usually blamed.

It boggles one’s mind that a hospital’s management can be so incompetent. The provincial health department needs to get to the bottom of the matter and ensure that the parents find their missing infant. This is not the first case where such a degree of negligence has surfaced in a government-run hospital, and it will not be the last. The need is to overhaul the health system, increase the budget and ensure the masses are given proper medical care. After all, it is from their taxes that these departments and authorities run.