HMC doctors suspend services, resent attack on colleague

PESHAWAR: The doctors on Friday suspended health services in the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) and took out a protest rally against life attempt on senior ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist Prof Asmatullah Khan and threatened to extend the protest to other public sector hospitals if the culprits were not arrested within 48 hours.

Two armed motorcyclists opened fire on Prof Asmatullah when he left his house in Hayatabad to reach the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) on Thursday morning. He was working as professor at the ENT Department.

The armed men fired four bullets but Prof Asmatullah received two bullet injuries to his lungs and liver.On the other hand, Prof Asmatullah was shifted to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for his likely liver transplant after medical board of senior professors in HMC made unanimous decision following his thorough examination.

The medical board expressed satisfaction over the laparotomy and post-operation care provided to him in the hospital.

The HMC administration took his family into confidence before moving him to Islamabad. The family was told about the two state-of-the-art transplant units in the country, one in Shifa Islamabad and another in Sheikh Zayed Hospital Lahore, where the best transplant surgeons would conduct his liver transplant surgery.

With consent of the family, the HMC administration arranged a specialised ambulance from Rescue 1122 in  Peshawar and shifted Prof Asmatullah to Islamabad in supervision of three specialist doctors and support staff.

In Lahore, transplant surgeon Dr Tariq Bangash had offered to personally come to Peshawar and examine him on Sunday.HMC Medical Director Prof Shehzad Akbar, also a foreign qualified surgeon, said that since Islamabad was close to them, it was decided to shift him to Shifa Hospital.

He said Prof Asmatullah was lucky as Dr Jehanzeb Malik, an anaesthetist in Shifa Hospital Islamabad, is member of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the HMC and Dr Ghulam Siddique, general surgeon, is a good friend.

He said Pakistan’s top liver transplant surgeon Dr Faisal Dar would look after Prof Asmatullah in Shifa Hospital. Prof Shehzad said the HMC would pay for all the expenses of Prof Asmatullah’s treatment.

Meanwhile, the doctors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa condemned life attempt on Prof Asmatullah and termed it failure of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government and the law-enforcement agencies to protect doctors and health workers.

The doctors in HMC continued the protest for the second consecutive day and kept all the health services, except emergency and casualty, suspended on Friday.They staged protest and condemned violence against the doctors in KP. They complained that a number of doctors had been killed, injured and kidnapped but the government failed to arrest a single culprit of these incidents.

A group of senior doctors held a meeting with Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai and provincial police chief Nasir Khan Durrani. They apprised them of their concerns.

The doctors, including Prof Dr Mumtaz Marwat, Dr Ghareeb Nawaz, Dr Shah Sawar, Dr Amir Taj Khan, Dr Salim Khan Yousafzai, etc, also lodged protest with IGP Nasir Durrani for terming the attack on Prof Asmatullah a result of his personal enmity.

The doctors informed the police chief that Prof Asmatullah had no enmity and was coming to duty when came under attack.

Also, they informed the police chief that the incident took place near the house of a senior police officer in Hayatabad where police personnel were deputed for his protection. But they didn’t take notice of the firing in the neighbourhood.

The doctors informed him that the police responded two hours late after the incident.“This incident exposed the government’s claim of having made foolproof security arrangements in the city for Muharamul Harram,” said Dr Amir Taj Khan, president Provincial Doctors Association (PDA).

He said the doctors would continue the protest by keeping all services, except emergency and casualty, suspended in HMC till the culprits are arrested.From Monday, he said, the doctors would extend the strike to the Lady Reading Hospital and Khyber Teaching Hospital if the culprits were not held.He said the doctor community was not satisfied with response from the provincial government, particularly Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Health Minister Shahram Tarakai.