Five out of six newborn baby girls, who were left abandoned at the Shaikh Zayed Children Hospital in Larkana by their parents, have died, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.

The remaining one was adopted by the hospital staff, the TV channel said.

Shaikh Zayed Children Hospital Director Abdullah Chandio said, “In 2020, six newborn girls were left by their parents in the emergency ward of the hospital. In all these cases, parents wrote wrong phone numbers and addresses and went without their babies, depriving them of their treatment as per medical advice.”

The five newly born baby girls died who were later buried by the police and Edhi Foundation, the director said.

The poor parents who could not afford the treatment of the newly born girls often left them abandoned at the hospitals.

Hospital Director Abdullah Chandio said, “One such baby girl was adopted by a maid at the hospital with the help of the Edhi Foundation.”

He said children were deprived of their treatment against the medical advice and 80 percent of such cases are of baby girls and their parents simply left their newly born babies at the hospital risking their lives.

“Children in Shaikh Zayed Children's Emergency are provided high level emergency treatment and medicines absolutely free,” Abdullah Chandio said.

Shaikh Zayed Children's Hospital HOD Prof Saifullah Jamro said, “The highest number of children in Sindh has been registered in SZCH, Larkana. Neglecting a child's health is a punishable offense in developed countries, there is no such law in Pakistan.”

He urged that there is strong need for legislation on child neglect.

Prof Saifullah Jamro sharing the data said that 54 percent of children under five years of age in Pakistan are dying of malnutrition while one in five children is born with low birth weight.

“Emergency units monthly report 10 to 15 cases of not providing proper treatment to oxygen-dependency children against the medical advice,” he added.