DEAD and DUMPED even before birth

As people across the globe celebrated love with their beloved, five unlucky souls yet to even arrive in the world were found dumped in garbage on Tuesday in the city that never ceases to shock its residents.
Everyone who gathered near the garbage dump located on street No.12 in Sector E of Akhtar Colony was in for a shock, as the Mehmoodabad police recovered five small dead bodies of unborn babies from a plastic bag thrown away among the piles of rubbish.
The Sindh Health Department officials said that all five foetuses were female.
The foetuses were said to be four to nine months old and may have been disposed of by any of the illegal maternity homes located nearby.
The area residents had called the police helpline and informed them about the presence of the bodies of newborns in a plastic bag thrown away in the dump.
The information was then forwarded to the Mehmoodabad police station for further action.
Talking with Pakistan Today, Mehmoodabad SHO Rao Muqeem said: “We received information from Police Helpline 15 about the discovery of five newborns dumped in a katchra kundi. A police party arrived at the spot and recovered five foetuses in a black plastic bag.”
Another official at the Mehmoodabad police station, however, said that the police were informed about the presence of the foetuses by some scavengers.
The foetuses were later shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate and Medical Centre (JPMC) for medico-legal formalities.
After the incident, the town police raided two private maternity homes in Akhtar Colony. However, no arrests took place.
On contact, Health Department additional secretary Dr Suresh Kumar said the police recovered the bodies on information given over telephone. “We are yet to ascertain the exact time of their death due to fixation of internal and external tissues by preservatives,” he added.
Kumar said that all the five foetuses were that of females aged between three to nine months.
To a question, he replied that probably the foetuses had been preserved for teaching purposes or some illegal maternity home operating in the locality had thrown them away.
“There are some other possibilities also keeping in view the gender of these foetuses,” Kumar said. “May be the foetuses were of unwanted babies that were disposed of by unmarried women.”
“However, we are still investigating the actual reasons,” Kumar said.
The Mehmoodabad SHO said that the police are waiting for the final medical reports from the JPMC, after which the future line of action would be decided.
Taking notice of the tragic incident, Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed constituted a four-member committee, including senior health experts, to ascertain the facts behind the incident and submit its report within three days, so that strict action could be taken against those involved.
Sources in the Sindh Health Department told Pakistan Today that a large number of private maternity clinics are running their businesses illegally in the city, particularly in katchi abadis.
“These centres are also allegedly involved in illegal abortions, creating a negative impact in the society,” they added.
In Pakistan, pre-marital relationships are considered a grave sin and usually when unmarried women get pregnant, they have to somehow manage an abortion.
A recent survey by a private institute revealed that around 50 private maternity homes in a certain area of the city frequently entertain abortion cases, both of legal and illegal nature.