SAHIWAL: After a six-day physical remand, Senior Civil Judge Masood Ahmed Faridi sent five health officers on judicial remand in the case of the death of 20 babies at the paediatric ward of the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Pakpattan.

The suspects, identified as District Health Authority CEO Dr Sohail Asghar, DHQ hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr Adnan Ghaffar, Medical Officer Dr Ahsan, and lab technicians, Tufail and Murtaza, were arrested on the orders of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz after her visit to the hospital in response to the two inquiry reports by the provincial health department and Sahiwal Commissioner Asif Tufail.

A case was registered against these officials, along with unidentified doctors and paramedics, under sections 322 (punishment for Qatl-e-Khata) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The complaint was registered by Ali Hyder, the father of one of the deceased babies, with the City Police Station, Pakpattan. The police had initially obtained a six-day remand for the officials to recover the missing official records.

These officials are also facing charges related to the disappearance of four infant bodies that died during the same period. City Police Station SHO Muhammad Hashim confirmed that the police had found the missing record along with the whereabouts of four deceased missing babies.

Pakpattan District Police Officer Javed Iqbal Chadhar said the four missing babies’ parents had given statements to the police that they had received bodies of their children and laid them to rest.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2025