LARKANA – The Sindh government on Saturday constituted a probe into shocking deaths of 12 newly-born babies because of power failure and subsequently interruptions in oxygen supply at a government hospital in Larkana.
Both the governor and the chief minister of Sindh have summoned details of the incident, officials said.
Sources at the Children Hospital at Larkana said four children who were in intensive care units on Friday night died after the power failure in the hospital. The administration attempted to kickstart the standby power generators but it also failed because there was no diesel in its fuel tanks. In the absence of backup for oxygen supplies, the babies could not be saved.
On Saturday, eight more babies met the same fate and could not get medical treatment because of power outages and administrative issues at the hospital.
The medical superintendent of the hospital, however, said that there was no negligence but the children died due to late arrival at the hospital.
“It is not fair to claim that there was a power failure or there was no doctor on the duty,” Dr Afsar Bhutto told the media. “The main cause of death of the children was that their parents, who come from remote and peripheral areas, brought the babies too late,” Bhutto said.
He said neonatal cases become complicated due to traditional housewives in rural areas attending to them. The delay in delivery endangers the lives of the newborns.