Some relatives of a woman who had died during a caesarean operation staged a protest demonstration on Thursday against hospital administration at Faisalabad-Tandlianwala Road.
The demonstrators carrying the body gathered at Tandlianwala Bypass and blocked the road. Muhammad Yusuf, a resident of Mumtazabad, said he had taken his expectant wife, Shabnam Bibi, to Young Trust Welfare Hospital in Samundri for delivery.
He said the administration had told him that Shabnam would have to be operated on. Yusuf said he had consented to the surgery. He said she had given birth to a baby boy. Yusuf said her condition had deteriorated after the surgery. Yusuf said he had found out that the surgery had been conducted without a gynaecologist and an anaesthetist being present. He said he had also learnt that she been operated on by some unauthorised person.
Dozens of her relatives staged a demonstration against the hospital after her death. They raised slogans against the administration and thrashed some of the staff. They also damaged hospital furniture.
Later, they blocked the Faisalabad-Tandlianwala Road. They called off the protest after a team from Samundri police station managed to placate them assuring them that action would be taken against those found guilty of negligence .
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Muhammad Akram, an employee of the hospital, rejected the allegations.
He said a lady doctor had been present during the operation.
Akram said they had tried to take Shabnam to Allied Hospital but she had not survived. He said she had died due to medical complications and not because of negligence. Akram said her relatives had damaged hospital fixtures and a nearby mosque after she had died. He said they had also stolen Rs80,000 from the hospital’s dispensary.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, the Samundri station house officer said police could not initiate proceedings in the absence of a formal complaint from either party.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2014.
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