Minister orders inquiry into death of doctor

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Monday ordered an inquiry into the sad demise of Dr Salman Ali Iftikhar at the Services Hospital.

The minister directed Secretary Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department Barrister Nabeel Awan to conduct inquiry into the death of Dr Salman Iftikhar. The minister said strict action will be taken if any negligence is found in the treatment of the late doctor.

Meanwhile, Principal Services Institute of Medical Sciences Dr Mehmud Ayaz has condoled with the family of late Dr Salman Ali Iftikhar. He said as per information available, Dr Salman, Post Graduate Resident Punjab Institute of Cardiology, was admitted to SIMS Surgical Emergency on the night of June 3-4 in a critical condition BP less with shock reporting fever, abdominal pain and respiratory problem over the last three days. He was given emergency treatment which stabilised his condition for a short while but his condition again worsened and on reporting improvement, surgery was performed. After the operation, he was put on ventilator in the ICU. He could not survive and breathed his last three days afterwards on June7. He said a high-level committee headed by Professor Muhammad Amjad has been constituted with Professor Nadeem Aslam (Surgery), Professor Arif Nadeem (Medicine), Professor Naila Asad (Anesthesia) and Dr Zubair Ahmed (AMS Admin) as its members to probe the circumstances and identify negligence, if any, into the death of Dr Salman. The committee will submit its findings within 72 hours.