Daily Times

Just days after Baby Nishwa’s alleged assassination by health care professionals, we hear more stories about children being injecteddrugs leading to their fatal deaths. The recent victim: Eight-year-old Saba who complained of a cough and cold, and was allegedly administered an injection, after which her condition deteriorated and she died. Though a post-mortem examination will confirm the exact cause of the death in Saba’s case, this matter still needs to be top priority for the Government.

Like Saba, Nishwa’s parents took her to a health care facility because they thought it was a safe haven, a place where she would be treated. They trusted the hospital staff because they thought they were professionals.But it was wishful thinking on their part to do so. The events that unfolded at these hospitals would be any parents worst nightmare.

These are testing times as a nation, and the government must, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our future generations, analyze and rectify all the factors that could possibly have led to such extreme cases of medical negligence

Nishwa was administered an injection which left her paralyzed. A disturbing video of the nine-month old lying in vegetative state on a hospital bed trying to breathe, went viral on social media. The poor child’s tongue protruding, her eyes watery, as though her every effort to breathe, to let air in and out of her little lungs, was arduous and painful.

But she kept going, kept fighting. But in the end, after 16 days of trying her hardest, she lost her battle for life because our so called health care system underperformed and played with this little girl’s life.

My question is, and I’m sure this is the question on every Pakistani’s mind and especially those with young children: What is being done to ensure such perpetrators who call themselves health care professionals are never allowed to touch a child let alone administer a drug on a child ? How will they be held accountable to ensure they maintain the strictest and the highest safety standards so no parent has to see this day ? How can we regain our trust in the health care system which seems to have obvious cracks?

Though there is news that the staff members who administered the drugs in both Nishwa’s and Saba’s case have been arrested, what guarantee does this provide parents that other staff members will not commit such negligent acts in the future? Our policy makers and legislators need to delve deeper. Does the fault lie with the staff? The hospital? Training of health care professionals? Failure to comply withhealth care protocols, and in turn, is the law to blame? Or is it the entire health care system that’s flawed?

These are testing times as a nation, and the governmentmust, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our future generations,analyze and rectify all the factors that could possibly have led to such extreme cases of medical negligence.

Nishwa, the little girl, who the nation was praying for, has left us with a legacy. A legacy which we must fulfill: We must fill the cracks in our health care system, ensuring it’s competent to handle all sorts of medical emergencies, so no other child’s life is cut short, and no other parents have to endure the sheer heartache of losing children because of an incompetent health care system.

As Nishwa’s father, Qaiser Ali, gave a press conference, he sobbed, while saying.

“My daughter fought bravely but lost her battle … for God’s sake please make joint efforts so that no other father has to experience what I am going through right now.”

The writer is a freelance journalist, editor and owner of www.54thedition.com, a writing and editing boutique. She is a Member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada