- PM Sharif orders suspension of Sargodha DHQ hospital MS
- MS denies newborns death occurred due to hospital staff’s negligence, orders constitution of fact-finding committee to affix responsibility
At least three infants died in Sargodha’s District Headquarters (DHQ) Teaching Hospital, taking the death toll due to absence of medical facilities at the hospital to 19 on Sunday. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has reportedly taken notice of the deaths and ordered the suspension of the hospital’s medical superintendent (MS).
The hospital’s nursery has 25 beds and five incubators but it had 50 newborns admitted by Friday, with 20 of them in critical condition. Incubators could only be provided to five babies even though the Punjab government had reportedly issued directions to the authorities to provide 20 incubators to the hospital at the earliest.
Punjab Hospitals Health Committee member Dr Nadia Aziz, adding that the premier has taken notice of the “tragic incident”. Five of the infants died because of “unskilled attendants” at the time of delivery whereas eight of the 19 newborns who died “had very low birth weight”, she said.
“The government is committed to providing better health facilities to the people in public hospitals in Punjab,” she added.
It has been alleged that the reasons for the deaths are the absence of facilities, including unavailability of oxygen, shortage of incubators shortage and the negligence of doctors.
WHO IS TO BLAME?
According to reliable sources, the first infant died at 9pm on Wednesday after which the parents of the other newborns kept on asking the administration to call senior doctors, but in vain.
Some students of the SargodhaMedicalCollege were reportedly present in the hospital to treat the babies but they failed to save their lives due to lack of knowledge and experience.
Sargodha DHQ Teaching Hospital MS Dr Iqbal Sami said the babies could not survive due to “immature birth”, adding that some of them had been brought from private hospitals in critical condition. He denied the allegations that the infants died due to negligence of the staff or insufficient arrangements or lack of oxygen.
He said a fact-finding committee comprising Dr Arshad Rauf, Dr Shahid Manzoor and Rabiya Hashim had been constituted and stern action would be taken against those found responsible.
Pakistan Medical Association Sargodha President Dr Sikander Warraich also refuted the charges of negligence of doctors or the medical staff, saying that four doctors were on duty in the nursery during the night shift and catered to all the needs of the newborns.
