The investigating committee found 50 babies on 12 beds with 18 being oxygen-dependent
'To be born and not bred is'
perhaps the biggest tragedy being human can entail. What we have seen happening in Thar, Karachi, Sargodha and Vehari is the horrible realisation that, as a society, we have gone back hundreds of years when newborn babies were buried alive due to the inhumanity of humans. Newborns dying of malnutrition and maltreatment, four-year-olds being raped, eight-year-olds being held for money and so it goes. This of course is only what is reported and highlighted by the media; what must be happening in reality where the media is not present or where the wrongdoers are too practiced and powerful to let these facts spill out, is a horrible reality most of us would rather not ponder over.
Despite consistent denials by each government that things have reached a shameful level as far as saving and protecting our children is concerned, facts speak louder than words. A report by Save the Children, ‘Ending newborn deaths’, said that in 2012 Pakistan had the highest rate of first day deaths and stillbirths in the world at 40.7 per 1,000 births, followed by Nigeria (32.7), Sierra Leone (30.8), Somalia (29.7), Guinea-Bissau (29.4) and Afghanistan (29). Maternal mortality rates have also been worsening in the country as even within South Asia, mothers in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have a better chance of surviving than in Pakistan.
Factors responsible for this shameful rating are multifold. Poverty and illiteracy are root causes of this waster of human lives. Most mothers are undernourished due to poor nutrition and non-existent healthcare by the government. The ratio of people below the poverty line has increased considerably. Almost 60 percent of Pakistanis live on less than a dollar a day income that makes it very difficult for them to afford even two meals a day. In a country like ours, where the government consistently complains of not having enough resources to save these precious lives, it becomes imperative to focus on making mother-child health a priority in the given resources. Thar may be a case of chronic famine, though even that is debatable, but what happened in Sargodha is a case of the clinical apathy of the government. The Supreme Court (SC) had to call for an inquiry as government actions seemed more for media consumption than some serious actions. To add insult to injury, the government admitted flaws in healthcare facilities but also blamed the poor health of mothers as a major cause of the deaths of these children. A response absolutely identical to the one given by Qaim Ali Shah, chief minister of Sindh, on why children were dying every day in hospitals in Thar.
The inquiry report showed chilling details of the facilities in DHQ Sargodha. There were seven oxygen outlets in the neo-natal ward that were connected to the central oxygen supply system. Each supply was used for multiple babies through tubes being connected to them in a totally unsafe and unprofessional manner. Imagine treating oxygen supply like a cable television being provided to multiple televisions from one source. This horrific example of the unavailability and abuse of life saving devices in our hospitals is evidence of the statement that if you are poor and sick, death may be a better alternative to being treated given the way hospitals treat you in times of personal misery. The investigating committee found 50 babies on 12 beds with 18 being oxygen-dependent. For those 50 unfortunate babies, only six baby warmers were available with zero ventilators in the hospital.
The government response is to suspend the medical superintendent and form a committee to investigate and rectify the situation. But how is the medical superintendent responsible for a government that allocates less than one percent to the health budget? Countries that become developed spend six percent of their budget on health and ensure access to all health facilities to their public on a standard and accountable basis.
It is true that Pakistan is facing multiple resources challenges and that for years the debt cycle has eaten up all our reserves and very little can be spared for a number of underdeveloped areas. But that is the test of nations that are trying to come into the comity of nations. Prioritisation is an important task when there are scarce resources and multiple ends. The question is: when all tested and tried models in the world prove that human development is the basis for sustainable economic development, why do governments consistently fail to give this area importance? The classic example for preferring to make a 30 km lane for a metro bus at a cost of Rs 50 billion rather than upgrading facilities in 100 hospitals and thereby saving thousands of lives is what confounds the mind and aches the heart.
Infrastructure development is no doubt an important part of developing a country. However, road networks cannot contribute to a knowledge economy the way an educated and healthy workforce can. Never in human history has a nation progressed with a road network if its human network is undernourished, ailing, neglected, illiterate and unexposed. If this evidence is so convincing why do we find politicians failing to pay attention to priorities that really are the foundation of any development? The answer is obvious. Politicians in countries like Pakistan are rooted in a culture where the mindset of quick bucks and quick show works. Building roads are mega projects that allow fat commissions, kickbacks, and are also easy show and tell tangible proof for an unexposed public that does not fully understand the true meaning of development. In comparison to infrastructure development, human development will take years to show the difference to a population that has gone through better education and health standards and by that time the next election will already be over. Also, the feudal background of a typical politician is afraid of an educated mind that may question and demand changes that will disturb the years of political power hoarding that these politicians have practiced.
However, such imbalance in societies is the root cause of unrest and extremism. With a media that is now hungry for breaking news, and the digital revolution of mobile technology, reaching the lowest cadres with information is now more possible. Thus the time for politicians to hide behind fancy roads and feudal hierarchies is running out. Either they straighten their priorities and invest in human capital or the suppressed human race will retaliate in ways that will eventually make government in name only.
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