'Three, not eight newborns died at Sahiwal hospital': probe report fails to fix responsibility

LAHORE: A special committee formed by the Punjab government to probe into the deaths of eight children at the District Headquarter Hospital, Sahiwal has failed to fix responsibility for the tragic incident, ARY News reported on Monday.

At least eight newborn babies had died at the hospital after the air conditioning system in the children’s ward of the medical facility broke down.

Taking notice of the incident, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar formed a special committee to investigate the incident and sought a detailed report upon completion of the probe.

Subsequently, additional health secretary Rafaqat Ali carried out a probe into the incident and recorded statements of the ward’s staff.

Over the course of the probe, he admitted that at least eight children died in the ward and vowed action against those found responsible for the incident as per the law.

However, he did an about-turn in his report, holding no one responsible for the death of infants. Moreover, he said only three children died in the ward and that too from some diseases and not because of malfunctioning of an air conditioning unit as stated in media reports.

Earlier on Sunday, the outraged parents and relatives of the victims had staged protests against negligence of the hospital administration.