PIMS cardiologist case: There is more than meets the eye

ISLAMABAD: The people engaged in the investigation of Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik killing case are avoiding the facts leading to the ‘conspirator’, police sources said. Preliminary post-death reports relating to Dr Shahid Nawaz Malik took a mysterious turn with regard to the medical treatment provided to him at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and incompetent approach on the part of police to investigate the targeted firing incident on the premises of PIMS.
Police investigation into the killing of Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik produced no results and the people engaged in the investigation of the case still remain clueless. They even haven’t yet rounded up initial suspects who could possibly be involved in the ‘conspiracy’.
There is evidence relating to the killing of Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik that hints that the killers could be from inside the PIMS, as the surveillance cameras installed at private medical rooms, which was the very spot where the doctor was shot at, were unplugged only 25 minutes before as there is no recording in cameras prior to the incident.
Family sources claimed that Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik had been feeling insecure. They pointed fingers at some people at the PIMS in the targeted killing. Secondly, the CT scan and the Electroencephalography (EEG) machine, which monitor brain activity in case of brain injuries, were out of order at the PIMS.
It has been learnt that the CT scan of the hospital was dysfunctional only five days before Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik was shot at and no measures were taken to repair it.Sources also pointed out some financial embezzlement in the construction of the Cardiac Centre (CC), indicating that the financial managers were trying to embezzle millions of rupees from the funds allocated for its construction.
Sources further disclosed that the PIMS chief detected fraud of millions of rupees in which a zero was added in the sanctioned amount that was in millions of rupees.
Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University Vice Chancellor Dr. Javed Akram confirmed the report when contacted by this correspondent, saying that he wedged such attempt as he wanted to reform the system. Dr. Akram said that the total funds for the construction of Cardiac Centre was Rs989 million which has multiplied now.
Meanwhile, people involved in the ‘conspiracy’ are trying to divert the case to other issues, alleging that Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik had married secretly or patients could be involved in his killing.
Mysterious circumstances followed the killing of Cardiology Head Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik as three important officials of the PIMS administration, including the one who added zero in the sanctioned amount, disappeared from the hospital after the incident. Why Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik was not provided care properly and why senior neuro-surgeons were not taken on board on the condition and operation of Dr. Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik except for PIMS Neuro-Surgeon Dr. Khaliq-uz-Zaman.
There are mysterious blunders on part of doctors who operated Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik at the PIMS, having no access to CT scan and ECG. The CT scan is ultimate choice in trauma-related cases and in absence of these machines it is just like searching a needle in a well with mobile torch, sources said.
Reliable sources at the PIMS disclosed that the doctors’ team that was tasked to operate Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik could not find the source of bleeding inside the skull of Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik. Failing to find the cause of bleeding, they just sealed-blocked the wound. Even bullet was not taken out. There is a major query why the skull was not removed to defuse pressure from brain?
Cardiologist Shahid Nawaz Malik sustained a bullet at the back of his head called posterior fossa and in such traumatic brain injuries, decompressive craniotomy, which is a neurosurgical procedure in which part of the skull is removed to allow a swelling brain room to expand without being squeezed was not even tried either on right or left side of the skull.
Secondly, as per medical reports, the vertebral arteries, which supplied blood to the posterior part of brain of Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik were found cut. The question is how the doctor claims that vertebral arteries were found cut when he even failed to find the spot of bleeding.
The surgeons prohibited movement of Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik to another local or foreign hospital and refused to give written permission to shift him to any other hospital. However, he was later shifted to the CMH, Rawalpindi, on behalf of his family and he survived there for four days. Similarly, inside sources at the PIMS disclosed that Radiopaque dyes through Doppler machine was not even tried due to the dysfunctional Doppler machine which is used to check flow of blood in arteries against any blockage.
It has also been reported that more critical patients usually can be moved to foreign countries as happened in the case of PML-N leader Zafar Iqbal Jhagra who was allowed to go to a foreign hospital in a critical condition and was treated there.
Later, following the death of Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik, preliminary post-mortem report was concealed and not made public by the PIMS authorities. When the doctors were conducting post-mortem, a surgeon got into the room and instructed the doctors doing the post-mortem not to talk to the media without his permission.
Police are unaware of the loopholes and gray areas in the case as they haven’t yet questioned any PIMS official leaving the vital aspect behind.
Secondly, police have never bothered to investigate with the people living in residential area of the hospital as the assaulters after shooting Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik went towards the residential area of the hospital and this aspect of the incident was never highlighted.
On the other hand, police did not bother to investigate police officials who were on security duty at the PIMS on the day of the incident. Many points are vulnerable as police personnel deployed for security were found absent from their points.
On the other hand, all dysfunctional machines and medical equipment are being repaired day in and day out to give the impression that every machine and facility available at the PIMS is functional.