Abandoned baby falling ill yet parents missing

KARACHI: The parents of a baby who was abandoned at National Medical Centre (NMC) are still missing while a ‘guardian’ insists that he was only doing the mother a favour by paying for treatment.

Mohammad Ali was born on June 24 at the Jamiat Hospital in Delhi Colony, allegedly to AY and his wife, who later brought the child to the NMC because he was in critical condition.

Later, however, the ‘couple’ disappeared, leaving the baby behind and AY now claims that he only pretended to be the father so that the baby could be admitted.

The administration of Jamiat Hospital said that they have documents that prove AY had given his consent for the mother’s operation as her husband and had even signed as the boy’s father when he was admitted to NMC, The Express Tribune learnt from the NMC administration.

AY insists, however, that he was only helping the baby’s mother, who he claimed is an acquaintance, and she came for help after a dispute with her own family.

“When I went to help her at Jamiat Hospital, they handed me the baby, saying that his condition was critical and he needed to be shifted to another hospital,” he said. AY added that he brought the boy to NMC and filled the admission form as the child’s father as there was no other way of helping him.

Dr Qureshi told The Express Tribune that AY paid the admission fee by credit card and also paid for some of the expensive medication during treatment. Later, he disappeared and refused to pay the total bill, he said.

“When I last met him, he requested me to reduce the bill because he could not afford it,” said Dr Omer Jung, administrator medical services. “We gave him a 40,000-rupee concession but he refused to pay and then disappeared on July 8.”

AY has been in touch with the media and the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) by phone. “I have already paid a lot of money for the baby: Rs40,000 for the advance and around Rs100,000 on medicines. Now I cannot pay any more,” he said.

Dr Qureshi, on the other hand, is not concerned about the bill alone but the boy’s custody. “We cannot have stopped the medical treatment once the parents disappeared as it is illegal but [AY] should have taken some responsibility if he could not afford the bills,” he said.

The hospital administration has been trying to contact AY but have failed. They even sent a complaint to the police and the CPLC but they are still investigating. “The baby cannot be kept at the hospital any longer,” said Dr Qureshi.

CPLC Deputy Chief Sulaiman Shaukat Ali, who is in charge of the investigations, sided with AY and said that he was not guilty. “I have known AY personally and he is a respectable man,” Ali told The Express Tribune. “I am 100 per cent sure that he is being misunderstood.” He added that AY is not in touch with the mother and until the CPLC traces her they cannot find out the truth.

According to legal procedure, when a child’s parents are not found, the baby is either sent to an Edhi orphanage or put up for adoption.

Meanwhile, several people and organisations have showed their interest in taking custody of the baby.

Dr Qureshi explained that the baby cannot be given away like that. “We do not want the money and we do not care whether or not AY is related to the baby but someone from the baby’s family should come and either take the child or give us the custody,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2010.