Karachi hospital's alleged callousness costs woman injured in traffic accident her life

• A hospital in Sachal Goth allegedly demanded advance payment from patient brought to emergency ward in critical condition
• Nazia was severly wounded after her dupatta got stuck in a moving motorcycle's tyre, father says
• Doctors at Karachi's Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil Hospital say she could have survived if given timely medical attention

KARACHI: The alleged callousness of a hospital here in Pakistan's southern port city cost a young woman her life who was injured in a traffic accident after the facility allegedly denied her medical treatment until an advance payment of Rs500,000 was made.

The victim, Nazia, was severely wounded after her dupatta, or scarf, got stuck in a moving motorcycle's tyre, her father said, adding that her brother immediately took her to a private hospital in Sachal Goth in critical condition but the facility, instead of providing medical assistance, demanded he first deposit Rs500,000 as advance payment.

According to Nazia's brother, the hospital staff refused treatment without a Rs500,000 payment even after he told the administration he had come in an emergency and did not have the money at that moment.

He further claimed that when he decided to take his injured sister to another medical facility after not receiving medical treatment for an hour, the hospital handed him a bill of Rs15,000, saying he could "only leave after paying the sum."

Nazia subsequently died due to a delay in her treatment although she was later taken to the trauma centre of Karachi's Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil Hospital, where doctors said she could have "survived if had she been given timely medical attention."

The latest incident is indicative of the fact that some private hospitals seem to be disregarding the Sindh government's Injured Persons Compulsory Medical Treatment (Amal Umer) Bill, 2019.