Mardan nazim booked for manhandling doctor

MARDAN: The police registered a case against District Nazim Himayatullah Mayar for allegedly manhandling and using harsh words against a doctor of the District Headquarters Hospital, sources said.

The sources added that some people contacted the District Nazim on his cellphone on August 26 and complained to him that they had brought their injured relatives to the District Headquarters Hospital DHQ in Mardan, but the doctors were absent.

Himayatullah Mayar reached the hospital and asked a junior doctor Asfandyar present at the hospital’s emergency ward to inform his seniors about the situation.

Though Dr Asfandyar asked his seniors to come to the emergency ward to treat the injured persons, but they were allegedly gossiping in an adjacent room and didn’t bother to attend to the injured.

Himayatullah Mayar went to the room to request the doctors to provide treatment to the injured, but they didn’t oblige him and this angered him. A doctor identified as Shakeel and Himayatullah Mayar exchanged harsh words on the occasion.

Though the doctors eventually treated the injured, they later announced boycott of the Out-Patients Department and they were also joined by the medics from the Mardan Medical Complex. 

The protest rally was led by Dr Raheel, Dr Saleem, Dr Gohar Zaman, Dr Ashfaq and other office-bearers of the Provincial Doctors Association (PDA).

They demanded the registration of the first information report (FIR) against the District Nazim.

The City Police Station registered the case against Himayatullah Mayar under sections 506, 186, 189 and 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Meanwhile, people belonging to different walks of life, including Tehsil Councillor of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Malik Ayaz, Awami National Party (ANP) office-bearers and others staged separate rallies in favour of Himayatullah Mayar.

They also held a press conference in his favour where they claimed that the patients were facing a host of problems at these two hospitals in Mardan as the doctors didn’t perform their duty.

The political activists from different parties said they supported Himayatullah Mayar in his efforts as the district nazim irrespective of their political affiliation.

They asked the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court to take action against the doctors for not performing duty.

The provincial government, they said, had failed to bring about any change in the hospitals and the poor patients were still suffering.