A special child with autism drowned in an open manhole in Lahore’s Children’s Hospital. The deep and deadly manhole was located near the office of the medical director (MD) of the hospital.
The three-year-old child was identified as Muhammad Basim Ikhlaq, and he had been brought to the hospital for a therapy session for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The body was recovered after two hours because of his mother’s hyperactive efforts, knocking at the door of every admin official of the hospital.
The death of the minor took place on Saturday due to the alleged negligence of the hospital management, which also tried to silence the victim’s family, reports said.
Reportedly, the child was recovered by a janitor because the hospital insisted on not seeking Rescue 1122’s help to search for the body as they did not “want the matter to go public”.
A private media outlet quoted hospital sources as saying that the child fell into the manhole as his father went to buy a toy for him, leaving him with his mother. The manhole was not visible as the hospital had hidden it with grass, they said.
“Had the hospital administration called Rescue 1122, my son could have been recovered alive,” said Basim’s father, Ikhlaq Ahmad.
He also lambasted the hospital for a two-hour delay in taking action, asserting that his wife ran from pillar to post but no one came to help and recover the then missing child.
They could have at least checked the security cameras installed in the vicinity where the child had been left to play, he said.
Ikhlaq said that his wife even rushed to the hospital’s mosque to make an announcement for the missing child after coming back from a nearby police station where the clerk and SHO “wasted time” by referring the case to each other.
Upon Ikhlaq’s arrival, some attendants of other patients came to help, alerted the hospital’s administration and “engaged” a sweeper to look for the child in the five-foot deep manhole.
“It was a very painful and terrible time for me and my wife when the sweeper recovered the body of my son from the manhole,” Ikhlaq lamented. He said that hospital higher-ups also refused to help them shift the body to their native city of Kasur.
“I had to call my maternal uncle, who is a property dealer in Gulberg, and we took the body to Kasur.”
Ikhlaq said that his wife used to bring their child to the hospital for every appointment and exclaimed that “she was still in trauma”.
He appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to hold an impartial inquiry into the criminal negligence that led to his son’s death.
The hospital, on the other hand, revealed that the manhole was situated inside a greenbelt right behind the office of the MD, Professor Tipu Sultan. An official defended the presence of the manhole by stating that the area was under constant surveillance but also admitted that it was a threat to the lives of children and patients as attendees often waited in greenbelts and parks.
Institute of Child Health/Children’s Hospital Vice Chancellor Prof Masood Sadiq also defended the institute by saying that the incident took place inside a greenbelt that had been cordoned off. He also shifted the blame to the mother of the victim.