KARACHI: Sunday’s kidnapping of a newborn baby from a private hospital in the city left a question mark over the lack of security at such health facilities, but also brought under the spotlight the role of the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC).

On Monday, police launched a probe into the kidnapping of the newborn son of Muhammad Aslam, a resident of New Karachi, from a second-floor room of the Ahmed Medical Centre in Block 13, Federal B Area by two young women, one of them posed herself as doctor.

Experts associated with the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) said that cases of newborns’ kidnapping had been reported both at the government and private hospitals lacking a proper accountability system.

They said the government department responsible to look into such cases was SHCC.

Police lodge FIR against two unknown women

According to Section 4(2)(e) of the Sindh Healthcare Commission Act, “(The commission shall) enquire and investigate into maladministration, malpractice and failures in the provision of healthcare services and issue consequential advice and orders; (f) impose and collect fees and charges on registration, licensing and accreditation under this Act.”

It also talks about patient rights and says: “(The commission shall) advocate rights and responsibilities of recipients and providers of the healthcare services”.

The experts said that the commission was responsible for monitoring operation of healthcare facilities and take action where patient rights were violated.

Call to ensure patients’ security

They called upon the SHCC to take notice of the incident and punish the culprits involved.

“It’s shameful that such cases occur in our society quite frequently and that’s because serious action against culprits and the hospital management responsible for ensuring patient security has never been taken,” said PMA’s Dr Qaiser Sajjad.

“It’s hard for families already traumatised by the tragedy to follow their cases with the police. The commission is supposed to give due respect to the affected family and independently investigate the cases as hospitals where crimes are committed would never carry out a transparent inquiry,” he said.

PMA representatives were of the opinion that patient security could easily be ensured through simple and cost-efficient measures, if the commission ensured proper monitoring of hospitals.

One of the basic purposes of setting up the commission, they said, was to investigate cases of medical negligence and hospital maladministration that often led to violence and abuse on hospital premises.

“But, unfortunately, the commission has turned into a useless department, only consuming funds on account of salaries and taking action against doctors instead of quacks,” Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro of the PMA regretted, describing newborn’s kidnapping as a major security lapse at the private hospital.

Probe begins

Police on Monday registered a case against two unknown women under Section 364-A (kidnapping) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of newborn’s father Aslam.

Aslam’s wife gave birth to a boy on April 15. He, his wife and mother-in-law were asleep in Room 207 of the hospital on Sunday when two young women, one clad in a burqa and the other in a doctor’s uniform, knocked at the door at around 4am.

The women checked the baby and told the parents that the minor had a fever and they were taking him to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on the first floor. They asked the parents to phone them after half an hour. However, the family later came know that the baby was not in the NICU.

“I immediately rushed to the hospital and asked the staff about my baby but they avoided giving any answer,” the police quoted the father as saying.

The case has been transferred to the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) for investigation.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2022