KARACHI: At least five infants died on Saturday in the Chandka Medical College Hospital children's ward in Larkana due to lack of oxygen supply.

Four infants were said to be new-born babies whereas one was said to be a two-year-old.

Medical Superintendent for Chandka Hospital told Dawn that a budget had been allotted to the hospital by the provincial government of Sindh but the bill had not been officially passed. As such, the hospital had run out of oxygen which resulted in infant deaths.

Last month, a number of infant deaths were reported in Sargodha's District Headquarters Teaching Hospital because of insufficient medical facilities, lack of oxygen supplies, incubators and alleged negligence of doctors. The Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice of the infant deaths.

Take a look: SC takes suo motu notice of infant deaths

This year’s federal budget had allocated Rs26.8 billion to the health sector. The allocation is slightly more than last year’s Rs25bn.

The Sindh government had allocated Rs43.58bn to health, which represented an increase of 20pc over the last year’s budget.

Examine: Health spending