ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court put on notice Punjab’s top officials over the infant deaths in a Sargodha hospital and instructed them to submit a report within 48 hours.
As the toll climbed to 26 on Tuesday, media reports suggested that the deaths occurred primarily due to insufficient medical facilities, including lack of oxygen and incubators at the DHQ hospital.
After going through a series of press reports on the issue, Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk ordered the health secretary and the Punjab government to submit a report within 48 hours.
On November 22, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had ordered the police to look into the matter after taking notice of the tragedy.
A three-member investigation committee had earlier sent the Punjab chief minister a report on the issue. Parents of the deceased children and those in a critical condition accused authorities of not doing enough to address the issue.
On November 19, eight babies had died in the same hospital, with parents holding the hospital’s administration responsible for the tragedy. The executive district officer (EDO) health had, however, denied the accusations and said the hospital has a central oxygen system.
In a bid to sweep the incident under the rug, hospital officials claimed that the newborns had died due to “pneumonia, infection, underweight, unsafe delivery and premature birth”.
The situation of child health services in the country is abysmal as major state-owned hospitals in the country require funds to repair, upgrade or replace aging equipment.
Child mortality in Pakistan is a major cause of concern, with every one among 10 children dying before reaching the age of five and one among 30, just after they are born.
Situation in Balochistan
With public outcry against state-health care services growing, sources at Bolan Medical Complex Hospital (BMCH), a major public hospital in Balochistan, revealed that the medical facility had only four functional incubators for under-weight and newly born children.
The BMCH was provided 14 incubators a few years back. Some 10 out of 14 incubators are out of order currently, they revealed.
“It has been weeks that the incubators are not repaired or replaced,” doctors at BMCH said. They added that on average 10 children require the incubators on a daily basis.
Highlighting the influx of patients, the doctors said that the hospital needed at least 25 incubators.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2014.
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