Eight babies die in Pakistan as incubators malfunction

Islamabad, Nov 19 (IANS/EFE) Eight newborn babies died of asphyxiation at a hospital in eastern Pakistan's Punjab province, after their incubators failed to supply them with oxygen, an official source told Efe news agency Wednesday.

The incident occurred at the District Teaching Hospital Sargodha where the hospital's chief administrator Ejaz Akram said that he lacked sufficient resources to properly care for the approximately 100 children admitted there.

"The hospital admits any child in a critical state, but the children's ward only has 26 incubators and 50 beds, which are shared among the children," Akram said.

The deaths were confirmed by Punjab Governor Shahbaz Sharif who appointed a three-member commission to investigate the case, according to the Dawn newspaper.

It was Punjab's second tragedy of this kind in two months following the deaths of seven newborn infants in the incubator ward of the District Hospital at Vihari.

--IANS/EFE

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