MITHI: Officials of Mithi Civil Hospital, local health department and district administration are forcing parents of ailing children to leave the hospital on one pretext or the other to deflect mounting pressure over deaths of newborns that show no sign of abating, according to children’s parents.

They complained to Dawn on Friday that the officials were advising parents of the children who had been admitted to the hospital to take their kids to Hyderabad for ‘better’ treatment and try to persuade many others to go back to the remote villages from where they had arrived in Mithi in search of better treatment.

The officials accelerated their efforts to scare away as many ailing kids as possible before scheduled arrival of members of Sindh cabinet so that they could prove to them there was no truth in media reports about babies’ deaths, they said.

They were advised to take their children to Hyderabad but they were not provided any means to transport their ailing kids. Parents of three kids whom the doctors referred to Hyderabad were only given ambulances but no fuel, while many others flatly refused to move as they had no money to bear expenses of travel to and boarding at Hyderabad, said the parents.

“We do not have the Rs5,000 needed for taking our baby to Hyderabad for better treatment,” said a villager who had come from a remote area of Chhachhro taluka.

He said that whatever little money they had they spent it on taking their 11-month nephew to Mithi who was suffering from waterborne diseases and respiratory issues.

Other villagers complained that doctors were not paying full attention to them, particularly at night, so they had decided to shift to private hospitals.

Members of civil society strongly condemned the ugly and inhuman tactics of the government officials and the forced “referral policy” of the hospital to get rid of patients’ load.

Dr Mohammad Iqbal Ahmed Bhurgari, civil surgeon at the hospital, dismissed as baseless allegations the parents’ complaints and said that they were referring the children for better treatment as per relevant rules and regulations without any pressure from the Sindh government.

“We have very limited funds, which have now exhausted because of heavy rush of patients which started with the advent of winter and outbreak of waterborne diseases, leaving us cash strapped. We are left with so little funds that at present we cannot even buy fuel for the ambulances,” said Dr Bhurgari.

He stressed that until they were given funds as per needs they would never be able to bear transportation charges of patients but claimed in the same breath that there was no shortage of medicines at the hospital despite sudden surge in patients.

Meanwhile, PML-N MNA Dr Ramesh Wankani rejected the provincial ministers’ committee on children’s deaths and said the chief minister and his cabinet were hoodwinking people by just making hallow announcements.

He said that he would request the prime minister and federal government to hand over control of Thar hospitals to Rangers to help save lives of poor Tharis.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2016