Infant Nashwa, left paralysed due to alleged medical negligence, passes away at Karachi hospital
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Nine-month-old infant Nashwa, who was left paralysed earlier this month after she was allegedly injected with the wrong dosage of a solution at the Darul Sehat Hospital in Karachi, passed away on Monday.
The infant's father, Qaiser Ali, spoke briefly to reporters after his daughter passed away this morning. "My daughter fought very hard but she lost," he said, overcome with emotion.
"Please do something so that another person's daughter is not lost," he pleaded. "Otherwise news reports like this will keep running, and officials will keep paying visits, but nothing will change."
A first information report registered by Ali on April 15 stated that on April 6, he had taken his twins to the hospital for treatment of diarrhoea.
On April 7, one of the two children, identified as Nashwa, was allegedly administered an overdose of potassium chloride and that too not via a drip, the FIR said. Minutes later, her lips turned blue and she began having trouble breathing.
She was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for 45 minutes, after which her breathing function was restored, and then placed on a ventilator.
On April 12, when Nashwa was taken off the ventilator, doctors informed the father that she "may have suffered a brain injury" due to lack of oxygen supply to the brain that might have been a result of CPR performed on her for 45 minutes.
The FIR stated that a subsequent CT scan revealed that due to lack of oxygen to the brain, the child’s hands, feet, eyes and mouth had been paralysed.
Later, she was shifted to the Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) for further treatment.
The hospital's spokesperson, Anjum Rizvi, confirmed that the infant passed away this morning.
Rizvi said that Nashwa was admitted to LNH last Sunday. He explained that her condition did not exhibit consistent improvement despite doctors' best efforts.
Her condition began worsening this morning, he said. "Her lungs slowly stopped absorbing oxygen and between 9:30-9:40am this morning, she passed away."
On Sunday, police had arrested three staff members of the private hospital in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, including a female doctor.
