Islamabad: At least 10 new-born babies died due to interruptions in oxygen supply caused by power breakdown in a children's hospital in Pakistan's Sindh province over the last 24 hours, police and hospital sources said Saturday.
According to police, four children who were in the intensive care unit died late Friday night when power broke down at the government hospital in Larkana city, Xinhua reported.
The hospital administration tried to start the power generators but they were out of order. The electricity could not resume till Saturday afternoon and the babies continued dying one after the other due to the absence of backup for oxygen tanks.
Talking to the media, Afsar Bhutt, medical superintendent of the hospital, said that the infants did not die due to administrative fault or negligence on the part of doctors but due to late arrival for medical treatment at hospital.
Both the governor and the chief minister of Sindh have ordered a probe into the incident.
IANS
First Published: Sunday, September 30, 2012, 00:06