Islamabad: Taking part in the debate, Senator Atta-ur-Rehman of JUI-F expressed deep grief over the loss of lives and termed the incident a failure of the hospital administration.
He particularly referred to the ordeal of a couple who, he said, had been blessed with a child after 11 years but lost the baby in the tragedy. Khalida Ateeb called for fixing responsibility and said lessons should have been learnt from previous healthcare tragedies to prevent recurrence of negligence.
She raised serious questions over emergency arrangements at the neonatal care facility and said the inquiry should determine why access to the ward was allegedly locked and why valuable time was lost in locating the key during the emergency.
Referring to an earlier incident in Sindh in which around 100 children contracted HIV/AIDS following repeated use of syringes, Khalida Ateeb questioned whether adequate corrective measures and accountability had followed the episode.
Dilawar Khan held the PIMS Executive Director responsible for the administrative failure, saying the Health Minister should not be blamed for responsibilities that directly rested with the hospital management.
He called for reforms in the governance structure of PIMS, saying medical and administrative functions should be clearly separated. Specialist doctors, he said, should concentrate on clinical responsibilities while competent professionals should manage administrative affairs.
Leader of the Opposition Nasir Abbas demanded immediate removal of PIMS Executive Director and said that an impartial and transparent investigation could not be conducted while he remained in office.
He alleged that the Executive Director was highly influential and questioned how officials working under the existing hospital administration could independently investigate the incident while its head continued to hold office.
The opposition leader termed the deaths of the newborn children more than mere negligence and said responsibility must be fixed on all those whose actions or failures had contributed to the loss of innocent lives.
