Islamabad: A heartbreaking incident of alleged medical negligence has surfaced from a private hospital in Bahria Town, Rawalpindi, where a six-year-old girl, Zoonaisha, died inside the operation theatre before her scheduled minor adenoid surgery could even begin.
Her grieving parents say they are striving for justice from regulatory bodies including Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority (IHRA) and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).
Zoonaisha, a bright student of Roots International School, DHA Phase 1, Islamabad, was taken to Medicent Hospital in Bahria Town Phase 4 for a routine ENT procedure.
The family was told the procedure would be minor and completed within 30 minutes. However, what unfolded was a nightmare no parent should ever witness.
The father, who had been anxiously waiting outside the operation theatre, says he was left in agonizing silence for nearly two and a half hours with no updates from the hospital staff.
“When I forced my way into the OT, I found my baby lying alone, lifeless, on the operation table. There was no doctor. No nurse. Just her little body, abandoned,” he told this correspondent, his voice trembling with emotion.
According to the family, the surgery never actually started. Instead, they allege, the child was administered a double dose of anesthesia by an inexperienced anesthetist, which led to her untimely death.
They further claim that some of the medicines in the operation theatre were expired and that the hospital staff fled the scene without informing the family of any complications.
Postmortem reports are still awaited. A formal First Information Report (FIR) has already been lodged against the hospital and those responsible.
The case has shaken many, evoking memories of similar past incidents where negligence during routine procedures claimed lives.
In 2021, a young woman died due to excessive anesthesia during a dental procedure in Lahore. A year earlier, a child undergoing tonsillectomy in Karachi lost his life after a monitoring machine malfunctioned. Despite outrage, justice has remained elusive in many of these cases.
The Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority (IHRA), which oversees the functioning of healthcare facilities in the capital, has launched a probe into Zoonaisha’s death.
A preliminary hearing was held last week, and the inquiry is said to be ongoing. However, there are growing concerns about the impartiality of the investigation.
Critics fear that the current IHRA administration, whose board includes individuals affiliated with private hospitals, may not conduct a fair and transparent inquiry.
“We fear a cover-up. The same people who are supposed to investigate are protecting their own,” said a family friend involved in the legal proceedings.
The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the body responsible for taking disciplinary action against licensed doctors, has also received a formal complaint in the case.
However, no inquiry has yet been initiated, raising further questions about the system’s ability to ensure accountability in cases involving powerful practitioners.
The child’s devastated father said, “My daughter signed her own consent form. She trusted the doctors. We did. But they betrayed that trust in the most brutal way possible. She walked into that OT smiling… and never came back.”
Social media has since been flooded with demands for action under the hashtag #JusticeForZoonaisha, calling for Medicent Hospital to be sealed and those responsible to be held accountable.
Zoonaisha’s story has become a grim reminder of the perils many families face in the hands of an under-regulated private healthcare system where negligence, unfortunately, too often goes unpunished.
As her parents await justice, the nation watches whether the institutions responsible will rise to the moment—or fail yet another grieving family.
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