Attendants of a patient at the district headquarters hospital on Tuesday attacked a doctor and paramedics following the death of the patient.
Police were called and three people were arrested. They were released shortly after the family of the deceased staged a demonstration in front of the hospital alleging that she had died due to doctors’ negligence.
Muhammad Jameel, a relative of the deceased Saadia Bibi said that she had been brought to the hospital from Sargodha. He said she had been complaining of abdominal pain.
He said despite her pain, the paramedics in the ward kept them waiting. He said that the paramedics on duty in the ward kept visiting and leaving the ward all night, but no one called the doctor.
He said in the morning Dr Atif examined her, but by that time her condition had deteriorated. She died a few hours later.
“Had the doctor responded to our call in time, she could have been saved,” he said.
He said when the family accused the paramedics and the doctor of negligence, the hospital management ordered the security guards to throw them out.
“That was why there was violence,” he said.
Civil Lines police were called to control the situation. They arrested three of the people and detained them for a while.
Additional Medical Superintendent Muhammad Habib Buttar told The Express Tribune that the woman was brought to the emergency ward at 1:25am. He said she was examined promptly and shifted to Ali Ward. He said the duty doctor ordered some tests on her, which took some time.
Before test results were received, he said, she died at 11:30am.
He said shortly after the news was broken to the attendants, they caught Dr Atif and beat him up.
“He was bleeding from the mouth when I arrived at the ward,’ he said.
He said he had no option but to call security guards.
Dr Buttar said that the hospital management had decided to investigate the allegations of negligence through an in-house inquiry committee, including a member of the provincial assembly.
He said the committee was headed by DHQ hospital Medical Superintendent Arif Ali, and Dr Akmal Sharif, Dr Javaid Iqbal and MPA Sheikh Ejaz Ahmad were its members.
He said the committee would ascertain the facts leading to the patient’s death and the disruption at the ward and fix responsibility.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2013.