Treatment denied: HMC shuts down over personal dispute between two staffers

Patients not given access to OPD, emergency services.

PESHAWAR:

Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) was closed most of Wednesday over a strike called by the Young Doctors Association (YDA).

The YDA went on strike in protest of a fight between a doctor and an operation theatre (OT) technician a day earlier, which eventually led to the death of an 80-year-old man.

Talking to The Express Tribune, an HMC official said Dr Anwarul Haq and OT technician Khalid Khan had an argument on Tuesday because Khan was allegedly talking on the phone during a surgery and the doctor told him to hang up and work.



However, YDA member Alamgir Yousafzai said Dr Haq had been waiting to operate on his 80-year-old patient for five hours but the technician was on the phone and would not give him medical supplies. The patient eventually died, which led to an argument between the two men and later a fight among YDA members and paramedic staff. Doctors then broke windowpanes in the administrative block and boycotted duty.

Following this, the YDA decided to go on a strike for an indefinite period of time until the technician was sacked. The strike was, however, called off after an emergency meeting between HMC officials and the YDA. HMC Chief Executive Professor Mumtaz Marwat, YDA President Muhammad Zubair Wazir, paramedical staff President Habib Khan and Khyber Institute of Children Dean Gohar Rehman were present to discuss the issue.

After the meeting ended, Marwat said a committee has been formed to carry out an investigation against the technician. But he added “a doctor’s job is to provide treatment to the ill, not get involved in politics and other activities.”

Patients’ ordeal

While doctors boycotted duties until Wednesday evening, patients and attendants arriving from distant areas of the province and Afghanistan waited for the Outdoor Patients Department (OPDs) and emergency services to resume.

Muhammad Iqbal Shinwari had come to HMC from Landikotal to admit his daughter, who had been injured in an accident early in the morning. After reaching HMC, he found out there were no doctors present to treat his child.

“They have shut down the entire hospital over a personal issue of one doctor,” said Riaz Khan, another patient who had come from Board Bazaar for treatment. “While these poor patients are lying on the ground, doctors are busy with their politics.”

He said the health minister must take action against the staff and doctors responsible for the incident.

There are four OPDs at HMC which are visited by 700 to 800 patients daily. There are over 1,500 patients at the emergency ward every day.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2014.