CJ orders probe into doctor’s death at private hospital

LAHORE : Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday directed the provincial health minister and Punjab Healthcare Commission to hold a detailed inquiry into the death of a young woman doctor during delivery at a private hospital.

A citizen, Mian Mujahid, had filed a complaint to the chief justice, saying his daughter gave birth to a baby boy with normal delivery at the hospital. However, he said, doctors took his daughter to operation theatre without disclosing any reason. He said the doctors kept his daughter in operation theatre for 20 hours before she died.

The applicant alleged that his daughter lost her life through negligence of the doctors. He requested action against the doctors and the hospital management. He told the chief justice that his second daughter was in coma since the death of her sister.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) Chief Operating Officer Dr Ajmal Khan and the representatives of Surgimed Hospital were present during the hearing. Expressing concern over the death of a healthy woman after normal delivery, Chief Justice Nisar observed that the private hospitals were only minting money from the patients. He said the court would randomly select some famous private hospitals for their forensic audit.

The chief justice was told that a complaint had already been lodged with the PHC and the death of the woman doctor was being investigated.

The chief justice directed the health minister and the PHC to constitute an inquiry committee of senior doctors and submit its report in 10 days.