Medical negligence claims life at PIMS

Islamabad: Admitted at the Children’s Hospital of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), one-year-old Faizan became a victim of medical negligence on Saturday, leaving behind a mother wailing for justice.

The critically-ill child breathed his last, allegedly because of the hospital staff’s failure to promptly provide 100cc blood despite the doctor’s instructions that he may die if blood was not transfused within an hour.

“I rushed to the Blood Bank with my request as the doctor had clearly told me that my child may not survive if blood is not transfused within an hour. I assured the staff that my blood donors were on their way for replacement and that blood be immediately provided; the staff told me to come after 45 minutes but three hours slipped by and they did nothing. When I received the blood after three hours and returned to the ward, my baby had died,” narrated Faizan's mother.

Hysterical, the victim's mother hurled threats at the staff of the blood bank, and hit herself against the iron railing of the window, with vows to leave no stone unturned.

"This is a ‘murder’. I want action against the culprits," she cried in the corridors of the hospital. It is learnt that when the child’s mother first submitted Faizan's blood sample at the blood bank, she was given a 40-minute waiting time. When she returned to the blood bank at the stipulated time, the staff told her to get another sample as the previous one was insufficient. She complied. The mother said even though samples were given in time and replacement donors were made available, her child died because of the alleged incompetence of the blood bank staff. As expected, the Executive Director of PIMS dismissed the possibility of negligence and attributed the delay to cross-matching procedures.