Doctors, attendants clash over death of patient at CHK

Civil Hospital, Karachi (CHK) witnessed a clash between young doctors and attendants of a female patient who died of tuberculosis meningitis on Sunday morning.

The doctors alleged that the attendants of the patient broke into their room and assaulted two female doctors. One of the doctors was nine months pregnant, mentioned Dr Waris of the Young Doctors’ Association.

The attendants rejected the allegations, claiming that no doctors saw their patient who remained in pain throughout the night, eventually dying in the morning. They said the doctors on duty did not provide any treatment to her and failed to save her life.

“My sister had a miserable night at CHK despite our begging of the doctors to save her life, but nobody came to help her,” a brother of the deceased lamented. He said that upon staging a commotion, security guards at the hospital attacked them while nobody came to their rescue. He added that some young doctors and paramedics also subjected them to violence.

CHK Medical Superintendant Dr Muhammad Taufiq said nothing serious had happened and termed it a routine incident. He said attendants of deceased patients got enraged at private hospitals as well and expressed their anger against doctors.

He said that the security guards intervened timely and handled the situation before it got out of hand any further. “Often attendants do not realise the seriousness of their patients and blame the doctors for their death although we do our best to save the lives of our patients,” he added.

He noted that the two female doctors were requested to file complaints if they had any against the attendants of the patient, but so far they had not registered any written complaint. He added that the hospital enhanced security measures to avoid such incidents in the future.

PIMA, PMA condemn violence

Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) and Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) have expressed concern over growing incidents of violence against healthcare professionals and demanded of the government to provide adequate security for doctors, especially female doctors.

In separate statements issued on Monday, PIMA Karachi President Dr Atif Hafeez and PMA Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad said subjecting doctors to physical violence had become a norm and deplored that hospital authorities failed to provide security to healthcare officials. They demanded an impartial enquiry into the incident.