In need of emergency treatment: Nine-month-old baby still stuck in Gilgit

Baby suffering from kidney and could not be evacuated to Islamabad for treatment.

GILGIT:

A nine-month-old baby suffering from kidney failure is still trapped in Gilgit because of the curfew and could not be evacuated to Islamabad for treatment.

The baby’s father, Mansoor Wali, had appealed to the government to transfer his son to Islamabad. He said the doctors had instructed him to revisit the hospital after some days, but the eruption of violence followed by the curfew had left his family stranded in Gilgit.

The baby’s kidney had been recently operated upon in Islamabad and he was to visit the hospital for follow-up treatment. “I had appealed to the government for help but to no avail,” the father said.

At least 16 people died and over 50 were injured in Gilgit and Chilas in the sectarian violence leading to the imposition of curfew in the city, forcing residents to remain indoors. Violation of curfew can provoke firing by security forces.

Wali said that doctors had inserted a tube in the kidney as preliminary treatment but it had been dislodged, causing blood and urine to ooze out from his son’s body.

The aggrieved father told The Express Tribune that his son’s condition had not stablised despite temporary medication offered to him at a military hospital in Gilgit.

“The baby needs urgent medical attention, which is only possible if he is evacuated to the federal capital,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2012.