Customs seizes batteries necessary for toddler's breathing machine

LAHORE: Two-year-old Sakeena is forced to count her breaths as the Pakistan Customs have seized the batteries which power her artificial breathing machine at Lahore Airport, ARY News reported.

The child, which suffers from a rare condition that has left her lungs unusable, requires a machine to keep her life sustained. The family, which hails from Glasgow in United Kingdom (UK), had purchased the machine from the UK and brought it with them when they came to Pakistan for attending a marriage ceremony.

The parents say the batteries have lost their storage capacity owing to the temperature of Lahore and that the machine works only when kept constantly plugged in – something which can become a problem in summers when power outages are frequent.

They told this scribe that when they imported the batteries from the UK, Customs officials at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport seized them and asked to pay import duty on them.

Grandfather of the girl, while talking to ARY News, told that they reached out to the customs office to pay the duty, but they were misbehaved with.

“Customs officials made fun of us when we told them that our child’s life depends on this machine”, he said, adding that when he told them that this was not a laughing matter, he was told to “do whatever you want”.

The family says that they were ready to pay any duty that was applicable, however, the delay in ascertaining the price of batteries and the applicable duty meant life and death for their child.

The parents have urged the authorities to take steps for early release of the machine’s batteries so that her child’s life can be sustained.

On the other hand, Punjab health minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid expressed her helplessness after the matter was brought to light with calls for Dr Rashid to step in.

The minister has said that although it was a health-related issue, the department concerned here was the Customs and not Health, therefore she couldn’t do anything.