PHOTO: EXPRESS NEWS SCREENSHOT
Earlier in the week, two children lost their lives at the privately-run Shah National Children Hospital. Parents claim doctors were not present at the hospital while staff treated the minors in question.
Further, Express News reported that family members of the deceased children have begun protesting outside the hospital. Rangers have also been called at site for security purposes. Roads leading up to the hospital have also reportedly been blocked as parents and residents of the area are resorting to violence at the hospital premises.
Parents have demanded that the hospital staff and doctors responsible for the incident be handed over to them. However, hospital staff, doctors and administration have reportedly already been evacuated from the hospital.
Residents of the area claim that many complaints have been lodged against the hospital previously but no action has been taken.
"The children were on incubators and apparently the power failure disrupted their oxygen supply resulting in the deaths of four children," senior police officer Nazir Mirbahar told AFP.
A father of one victim described how he had brought his three-month old daughter to hospital only the night before.
"She was actively playing and rejoicing when I brought her to the hospital because she was suffering from light fever," Aqeel Ahmed said.
Angry relatives stormed the hospital, ransacking equipment and blocking roads with burning tyres and boulders.
Governor Sindh Ishrat ul Ibad has taken notice of the incident and the health department has started an inquiry into the children's deaths and a report will be submitted to the provincial government within 24 hours.
"We cannot say right now how the deaths occurred but we have formed a two-member committee to probe into the matter," Dr Zafar Ejaz, a senior health official, told AFP.
Police said they had detained some of the hospital staff and were tracing the owner of the facility as part of their investigation.
"Cases of criminal negligence will be registered against the hospital management, if the parents press charges," Mirbahar said.
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Inna Lillahe WA Inna Ilaihe Rajeoon. Ameen. This is brazen CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE if two, four, six, or nine babies die within hours at a local hospital due to power failure. What are the names of the hospitals? Why are you protecting their names from full disclosure? Justice delayed is justice denied. InshAllah Pakistan will change? Salams
The father was saying, she was actively playing and rejoicing the day before when the family brought her to the hospital because of only a light fever, and yet she was in an incubator and died because of her inability to meet her demand of oxygen on room air in a matter of 24 hours or less. Goes on to show how ignorant our media is and how they also have turned the masses into raging lunatics. Stop this mass negative propoganda against the health care sector and professionals, and work on bettering an admittedly poor and ill equipped sector. The health sector deserves alot more the just 20 billion rupees as it annual budget, not metro buses and carnivals.
Health sector is the most ignored sector in Pakistan. If you come in gov sector you would come to know that power turns off even during operation- happened in my case when i was assisting an operation- because of load shedding! They cant supply uninterrupted supply to hospitals but they can built metro projects worth billions of dollars!! There is no worth of human life in our country! Their vote bank is more imp than life of a poor!! Secondly if this has happened in a private hospital one must see whether this hosp was running by a doctor or a quack, because this is happening in many areas of Pakistan! If this has happened while patients were on ventilator support, then load shedding could be the cause of this sad mishap. if you stop vent for 2 minutes, its enough to cause brain death. Things should be controlled in both ways. Gov has to boost up health sector and doctors have to be more careful while dealing with the patients!
should be treated as worse than murder ... the people who are profiting and should be put on trial for same
Four children lost their lives.. Very sad indeed.. There must some strong regulations for hospitals, and someone should be held legally responsible for these kinds of criminal negligence.. Unfortunately, like many other sectors in Pakistan, healthcare has also become highly commercialized.. Alas..
@Jibran: Although you may stand corrected on the mindset of the Pakistani awaam when it comes to post-death protest, but this article says:
This is negligence on part of the hospital as well as the private owners.
what happened with them exactly?
Butchers not doctors.
Come on. It's a hospital where patients may loss battle. The question is why parents wait till the very end when the cure is not possible to bring their children to hospitals. This mindset needs to be changed. Health is not something to be taken for granted.
Which hospital?
very sad, it looks, 'any body who can run Pan shop in Pakistan, can also run Hospital.. God bless us...