No Family Came Forward; PIMS Infant’s Body and Rs50 Lakh Handed to Edhi
Thirteen of the 14 newborn victims were handed over to their families, while an infant who had remained unclaimed at PIMS since June 21 was entrusted to the Edhi Foundation; the government says the Rs5 million assistance announced for the child will also be provided to the foundation.
ISLAMABAD: Further details have emerged regarding the handing over of the 14 newborn victims following the August 26 incident at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), with authorities confirming that one of the infants had remained unclaimed at the hospital for more than two months.
Of the 14 newborns, the bodies of 13 were handed over to their respective families, while the remaining infant was entrusted to the Edhi Foundation because no parent or guardian was available to claim the child.
Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal said the unclaimed infant was among the 14 newborns who lost their lives in the PIMS nursery incident and that the Edhi Foundation handled the child’s burial. He further said that the Rs5 million financial assistance announced for affected families would, in this case, be provided to the Edhi Foundation.
Infant Had Remained at PIMS Since June
According to information attributed to PIMS and police sources, the child had been at the hospital since June 21. Reports indicate that the infant’s mother, described as a young girl, left after giving birth and did not return to take custody of the child. Dawn had separately reported shortly after the incident that the two-month-old boy had remained unclaimed at PIMS since birth.
The latest account says that when authorities completed the identification process and handed the other victims to their relatives, no family member was available to receive this infant. The child was consequently placed in the care of the Edhi Foundation.
Some circumstances surrounding the mother’s disappearance remain based on hospital or police-source accounts rather than findings of the government’s PIMS inquiry. In particular, claims concerning why she left and why she was not subsequently located should therefore be treated as reported details rather than independently established conclusions.
Rs5 Million Assistance Announced for Families
The federal government had announced Rs5 million in financial assistance for each affected family. On August 28, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry began handing over the compensation cheques to parents, describing the payments as an expression of government solidarity rather than compensation for the loss itself.
The August 26 PIMS incident claimed the lives of 14 newborns and triggered investigations into the hospital’s emergency preparedness and safety arrangements. The interim federal inquiry subsequently identified serious administrative and operational failures, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered suspensions and further proceedings against officials identified in the report.
