KARACHI, Oct 15: The right forearm of a 28-day-old baby was amputated after severe infection developed allegedly due to doctors’ negligence at the Civil Hospital Karachi.
While the administration has rejected any possibility of staff negligence, the Pakistan Medical Association has called for an inquiry into the matter.
According to the parents of the baby, Javeria, who is the couple’s first child, was admitted to the CHK’s Paeds Ward II a month ago with fever a day after her birth at a clinic in Agra Taj Colony, Lyari.
The clinic was run by a nurse, they said.
Due to her condition, the baby was kept in an incubator for a month. During that period, severe infection developed on her right arm where a cannula was put for injection administration. The parents alleged that their child developed the infection on that spot during the Eid holidays and later they were told that the arm had to be amputated otherwise infection would spread to the entire body.
The poor family has incurred over Rs20,000 in expenses on account of the infant’s treatment and their food.Dr Iqbal Memon, head of the paeds section, however, maintained that the infant was suffering from blood infection and ‘septic shock’ when brought to the hospital. “The baby was too weak, weighing about two and a half kilos, whereas normally newborns in Pakistan weigh three kilos. She was in a drowsy condition when brought in. Septic shock leads to blood circulation failure.
We provided the best possible care to the baby by administrating relevant medication. Later, the condition of the baby somewhat improved, but the blood circulation in the right limb didn’t get better.”
He added that medicinal leakage did take place from the cannula, which was due to low blood pressure. When asked why the infection was allowed to spread, he ruled out any negligence on the part of the doctors and said: “Sometimes it does happen. The doctors in this case acted swiftly, but her condition aggravated since she was already suffering from sepsis. The development of gangrene at a later stage forced doctors to carry out amputation. Otherwise, the infection could have spread to the entire body and endangered the baby’s life.”
He also said that doctors couldn’t locate the cause of sepsis, but generally newborns in Pakistan suffered from umbilical cord infection. “The reason is childbirth in unhygienic conditions by untrained staff.”
Talking to Dawn, the CHK’s Medical Superintendent Dr Saeed Qureshi dismissed the possibility of any administrative investigation into the case and said: “No doubt it was a case of sepsis. And in such rare cases complications do occur, also due to the side-effects of drugs. There is no need for any administrative investigation, though the paeds department can carry out its own probe into the matter. There is no criminal negligence on the part of the doctors and staff.”
Demand for inquiry
Calling for an inquiry into the matter, Dr Samrina Hashmi, general-secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association and also a senior gynaecologist, said that though the baby, brought in with septicaemia having low chances of survival, had been saved, the hospital administration should carry out a thorough investigation because the case involved staff negligence.
“There is staff negligence and the administration should probe the case to avoid recurrence in future.”
Explaining what leads to gangrene in newborns she said: “In newborns, usually the cannula is supported by tape to keep it fixed at one point. If that tape is placed tightly or the cannula is not changed after three to four days, it causes infection and might lead to gangrene if immediate action is not taken. Also, the deficiency of protein also causes gangrene. But, if that was the cause in this case, gangrene should not have been restricted to only a specific part of the body.”
The administration, she said, should probe the staff concerned about the matter as it was a case of sheer negligence.
Contradicting Dr Memon’s statement about the average weight of a Pakistani baby, she said it was 2.6kg and not 3kg as he claimed.
