Cutting the cord: Doctors still trying to figure out who did it

KARACHI:

As the authorities and doctors continue to investigate the case of the five female foetuses found in a garbage dump in Akhtar Colony on Tuesday, they claim that the abortions were induced.

The case is of specific interest to doctors who want to know why the foetuses were preserved in Formalin. They claim that the suspect probably had an ulterior motive. A senior doctor said that there was no need to test the DNA as there was no direct suspect. He added that the youngest foetus was 16 to 18 weeks old and the oldest was 26 to 27 weeks old. He believes that the abortions were induced as the foetuses were without placenta and their umbilical cords were not clamped at the time of the delivery.

The investigations are being carried out at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Dow University of Health Sciences Ojha campus. So far the doctors were able to find out the age, gender, length and level of formation of the organs. They had ruled out the possibility of a medical college being involved in the incident even though students are taught anatomy and have to dissect a body.

The doctors believe that an institute might be using these foetuses for research without the government’s knowledge

Meanwhile, the police was searching maternity homes and hospitals in Mehmoodabad. DSP Saeed Rind suspects that this could an act of a bigger medical set-up.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2012.