Huma and Ashfaque’s Baby

ChildLife Foundation and NICH partnered with Memon Medical Institute Hospital (MMIH), a welfare hospital run by the charitable Memon community, so that patients requiring ventilators when one was not available at NICH could be transferred to MMIH and treated free of charge. Such was the case with Huma and Ashfaq’s baby. The parents were ecstatic when their boy was born and could not wait to hold him and show him off to the eager family members waiting at home. But when the nurses did not hand the newborn over to them immediately, their joy turned to unease. The baby was in respiratory distress and needed urgent care. The delivery staff advised the parents to rush him to ChildLife’s emergency room at NICH. At NICH, the baby was immediately sent to the resuscitation area as the triage staff recognised his case as critical. The team on duty cleared out the baby’s airway passage and stabilised him. They assessed that he was suffering from Meconium Aspiration System and would need ventilator support. The downside: all the ventilators at NICH were in use by patients. Such heartbreaking situations had occurred in the past; ChildLife doctors would save a baby only to not have ventilator support ready for him/her. But this baby was different. Under an agreement signed between NICH, ChildLife, MMIH and Aman Ambulatory Services, he benefited from ventilators available at MMIH. This hospital has 14 beds in the NICU and 4 in the PICU, a few of which, at any given time, are free. Staff at ChildLife phoned to confirm the availability of a ventilator for Huma’s baby at MMIH. Then an Aman ambulance transported the family to MMIH. Thus the baby became the first to benefit from this partnership. Many more children will be able to receive treatment in MMIH via ChildLife and this agreement will doubtless save countless lives.