ISLAMABAD: The reception area outside the building that housed Pims’ Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Centre has turned into a memorial, where parents, relatives and well-wishers of the newborns who perished in the tragic fire hold vigil in memory of the dearly departed.
But amid the mourning, there is one tiny corpse for whom no one weeps; an abandoned baby with no name, and no family to claim him.
The two-month old — who hospital staff suspect was born to a minor girl — had been kept with other sick children in the MCH Centre after he was abandoned by his family.
A couple of days before the fire broke out, a doctor had narrated his story to Dawn; the baby was delivered on June 21.
Two-month old child was fed, clothed and cared for by hospital staff after he was abandoned after birth
The mother, who appeared to be no more than 15 years old, did not supply any identification or marriage documents, and when hospital staff asked for the paperwork, she and her attendants slipped out of the hospital, leaving the child behind.
“The case was reported for medico legal follow-up, Karachi Company Police was informed, and the baby was retained by the administration,” she told Dawn.
The doctor said that according to official hospital documents, the infant was listed as “baby of ‘H’”, but they had named him ‘Ali’.
For two months, doctors and nursing staff cared for the unclaimed infant, and grew increasingly concerned over the lack of necessary care, which is essential for the normal neurocognitive development of any child.
Staff pooled money to feed and clothe him, while efforts were also being made to put him up for adoption.
Before the fire, then-federal health secretary Aslam Ghauri had assured Dawn that he would look into the issue and try to track down the baby’s parents.
However, before that could happen, tragedy struck, and his body remains in the hospital mortuary to this day.
“Now, his dead body is in the mortuary. Only his legal heirs can receive the body,” another doctor told Dawn.
Unless authorities manage to track down his parents, it is unlikely that anyone will come forward to claim his remains.
Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2026.
