A newborn has allegedly gone missing from Quetta Civil Hospital following the birth of twins, with the family claiming hospital staff handed over only one baby and failed to provide information about the second newborn.
According to the family, Nageena Begum was admitted to the hospital’s gynaecology ward at around 11pm on Sunday where she underwent a C-section. The family said that she was carrying twins but hospital staff handed over only one newborn to them.
The family said that they had been aware of the twin pregnancy through ultrasound reports and that a private hospital had also confirmed that Nageena was carrying two babies.
“We were informed through ultrasound reports that there were two babies. The hospital report also mentioned twins, and a private hospital had independently confirmed the presence of two babies,” said Shehzad Ali, Nageena’s brother-in-law.
Shehzad said that the family was given one baby following the surgery, while hospital staff told them that only one newborn had been born.
He alleged that doctors at Civil Hospital did not tell the family what happened to the second baby or provide information about its whereabouts.
The family also presented an obstetrical ultrasound report documenting a twin pregnancy at approximately 34 weeks and six days. The report recorded positive fetal heartbeats for both fetuses. It also mentioned an anterior placenta and adequate liquor amnii.
Shehzad called on the authorities to investigate the matter and take action against those found responsible.
Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Abdul Hadi Kakar confirmed that an inquiry committee had been constituted to investigate the incident.
He said that the family would be informed of the findings once the investigation was completed.
The incident comes days after a family in Karachi claimed that their newborn had gone missing from a private hospital in Nazimabad after a woman underwent a surgery for delivery.
An investigation into the Karachi case later found that the woman had falsely claimed to be pregnant.
