Infant dies in Pakistan as politician’s security prevents family from entering hospital

Chairman PPP inaugurating Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre at Civil Hospital. (PHOTO: PPI)

A 10-month-old baby girl died on Wednesday as a result of the family not being allowed in the Civil Hospital, Karachi, due to the chairman of political party, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto’s security measures for his visit to inaugurate the trauma center.

A storm ensued as the media and public both criticized the party. The girl died after her father was allegedly denied entry by protocol and security staff at the state-owned hospital.

Bisma, a resident of Gabol Park in Lyari, was suffering from measles and had a high fever when her father, Faisal, brought her to the hospital. He arrived at the trauma centre entrance, which was manned by security officials for the arrival of Bilawal, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and others and was denied entry even after he argued. By the time, he walked around the premise to the second gate, Bisma’s condition had worsened. The doctors eventually told him she could have been saved if they had reached 15 minutes earlier.

Faisal, carrying the lifeless body of his daughter, cried, as the media crowded the site.

What caused more uproar was the statement by Sindh Senior Minister for Education and Literacy, Nisar Khuhro, who said that the PPP chairman’s security was more important to them. Meanwhile, chairman Bhutto ordered an inquiry into Bisma’s death.

“The lives of people living in Sindh and other parts of Pakistan are precious,” he said. “We are very saddened on the death of the baby girl.”

The VIP culture in Pakistan disturbs many lives as it causes the entire locations to be shut down, causing traffic jams. This time, it caused the death of an innocent infant.

When CM’s adviser Nadia Gabol visited the family to apologise on behalf of her party’s leadership, she was met with hostility. Angry residents shouted slogans of ‘Go Nadia, Go’ and ‘Go PPP leadership, Go’.

PPP’s leadership has been questioned throughout the years since Bilawal’s mother Benazir Bhutto died, and the subsequent rise in power of former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. But if this inauguration was their plan to redeem themselves, it quickly backfired, causing a huge amount of backlash against the party.