n November 18, a three-year-old autistic child was accidentally killed after he fell into a manhole on the premises of the Children’s Hospital, Lahore. Days later, the inquiry initiated to ascertain the facts leading to the incident has yet to see the light of the day.

The child, identified as Basim, was a resident of Chunian, and was there with his family for medical treatment. At the time of the incident, the boy was playing near the office of the hospital’s medical director.

Long before his body was recovered by the janitors, Basim’s mother was spotted begging everyone to rescue her child. Later, the police started proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC, and handed over the body to the bereaved family. The parents described the incident as an “accident” and refused to take legal recourse.

Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique sought a report from the hospital administration. A three-member committee, led by Abid Ali Qureshi, a professor of paediatric radiology, was constituted to investigate the matter. Other members of the committee were Dr Ayesha Farid, an associate professor of developmental paediatrics; and Dr Syed Ali Abuzar, the additional medical superintendent.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also took serious notice of the incident, and sought a report from the health secretary.

According to the deceased’s family, the child was not accompanied by a guardian at the time when he fell into the manhole. It transpired that his father had gone to buy him a toy. The family insists that the manhole was covered with bushes and grass, so that Basim could not assess the danger.

The hospital staff reject the claim, saying that the manhole was on the greenbelt right behind the office of Prof Tipu Sultan, a pediatric neurologist. They argue that the entire area is monitored by surveillance cameras and security guards.

“What’s the use of providing billions of rupees to these hospitals for their maintenance and uplift work every year if they cannot take care of a manhole?” asks Maryam Mamdot, a social activist.

Amjad Rasool, Basim’s uncle, lashes out at the hospital administration saying that they neither called Rescue 1122 nor the police to search for the child.

“If the hospital staff had contacted Rescue 1122 in time, my son could have been rescued,” says Ikhlaq Ahmad, Basim’s father. “When my wife failed to get our son out [of the manhole], she ran from pillar to post, but no one paid heed to her pleading. She then tried calling Rescue 1122 as well as the police emergency number [15]; to no avail. As a last resort, she rushed to the hospital mosque to make the announcement using its loud speaker.

Ahmed further says that when he returned to the hospital, his wife informed him about the incident. “Some of the attendants of the patients who were there came to help us. They alerted the hospital officials who then engaged a sweeper to carry out the hunt for the child’s body.”

Maryam Mamdot, a social activist, says it’s unfortunate that the hospital staff should have refused to help the victim’s family in shifting the body to their native city.

She laments the fact that many families who meet such tragic fate, particularly in public sector hospitals, are condemned to deal with their traumas their entire life.

“What’s the use of providing billions of rupees to these hospitals for their maintenance and uplift work every year if they cannot take care of a manhole even?” she asks.

This scribe contacted an official at the hospital who said, albeit anonymously, that the inquiry was going on and that no conclusion had been reached.

Ahsan Zia is a print and broadcast journalist.