15/09/2026
Baby K was born through our program on Thursday. He lived near Turtle Beach and yesterday, he became critically ill with high levels of jaundice.
Our NICU bills this month alone had already crossed PKR 3 million - and we had to close our intake. We had our MBF ambulance take Baby K to NICH at Jinnah Hospital, where he was turned away because there was no space. We then took him to Civil Hospital, where he was also turned away due to lack of space. Baby K passed away enroute to the private facility we were taking him to.
We are angry and we are exhausted from seeing families forced to navigate a system that offers them no safety net when their newborn becomes critically ill.
This is not a story about one hospital or one missing bed: t is a systemic failure that we witness everyday as we try and bridge the gap between mothers and babies in need of life-saving care. In a state where government services, especially to maternal and neonatal care, are basically nonexistent, it breaks our heart when we are over our quota and cannot accept more cases.
A sick newborn cannot wait for a NICU bed to open. A mother should not have to call hospital after hospital while her baby deteriorates in her arms. And an ambulance should never have to drive around a city searching for somewhere that will accept a dying baby.
At Mama Baby Fund, we are committed to ensuring that no woman or newborn falls through the cracks. But this work should not have to fall on charities - it is the state’s responsibility to ensure that healthcare is a right, not a privilege - one that in Pakistan depends on geography, income, or whether a hospital happens to have an empty bed.
We cannot accept a system where there is no safety net for our sickest, smallest patients. We hold Baby K, and all others like him, in our hearts.
If our If our work resonates with you, wherever you are in the world, please donate now to our NICU Fund.
