Rats bite newborns in Holy Family Hospital

In what appeared to be a shocking incident, a couple of newborn babies were subjected to rat bites at the Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi. Panic spread in the labour room of the hospital with the discovery of two newborns – one dead, one alive – severely bitten by hungry rats.

According to the media reports, Tausir Ahmad came to the hospital on Monday with his wife Rahila, who gave birth to their first son. After the delivery, she was shifted to the ward and the newborn was put outside the labour room, on a table.

Meanwhile, a Pashtoon woman gave birth to a dead baby. The hospital staff also placed the deceased infant on the table, next to the living one. The staff then forgot them, and started attending other emergency cases.

When Rahila’s relatives demanded that the baby be brought out of the labour room, they were told that the infant could not be handed over without submitting a copy of its father’s national identity card. The argument consumed two hours as the relatives kept demanding the baby.

On their insistence, a nurse went in to see the child. However, she was shocked to see a big rat nibbling on the baby’s face, as the poor infant cried in pain. Other rats were gorging on the dead baby. Upon seeing the horrible scene, the nurse cried, prompting other staff members to rush in. The injured baby was given immediate medical aid, and the dead baby was handed over to its heirs.

The hospital’s medical superintendent has formed a four-member investigation team to probe the incident. Doctors however said that the condition of the baby was not serious.

In a recently released report by Economist Intelligence Unit, Pakistan was decaled unsuitable place to be born. According to the report, Pakistan landed among the bottom five countries, ranking 75 among 80 countries, in the index on the best place to be born in 2013.

Pakistan landed between Kazakhstan (rank 74) and Angola (rank 76), while Bangladesh landed two slots below Pakistan on rank 77. Afghanistan failed to make it to the list.

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Posted by Web Desk on Nov 27 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.