Newborn declared dead, death certificate issued before being found alive

SAHIWAL, July 5: A newborn girl was mistakenly declared dead by the administration of Teaching Hospital Sahiwal, which also issued a death certificate and obtained signatures from the child’s maternal uncle for the body’s receipt before later handing over the baby alive to her family, ARY News reported.

According to reports, the family alleged that hospital authorities had abducted the newborn after they were informed of her death but were not given the body. Following police intervention, the hospital administration returned the living infant to her parents.

The family has demanded that Punjab Chief Minister take action against those responsible for the incident.

Responding to the allegations, the hospital administration said the confusion occurred because the mothers of two newborn girls had identical names. According to the administration, the death certificate was mistakenly issued to the wrong family due to the similarity in the mothers’ names.

Hospital officials said the affected family staged a protest, prompting police and media to arrive at the hospital. A subsequent investigation and review of hospital records revealed that the complainants’ baby was alive, while the deceased infant belonged to another family.

The administration said the identities of both newborns were verified after a fresh examination of hospital records and maintained that the incident resulted from a case of mistaken identity caused by matching names.