Protesters give hospital three days to file a complaint against their staff

Say that their relative was denied treatment for six hours before she died

BHAKKAR: The family of a woman, who died at Darya Khan Tehsil Headquarters Hospital earlier this week, and some members of the District Aman Committee held a press conference on Wednesday “explaining their side”. On Tuesday, police had registered a case against 34 members of the family for rioting and beating up the hospital’s medical superintendent.

“Our protest was not a violent one,” Rana Basheer, the deceased woman’s brother, said.  He said that they had neither vandalised the hospital building nor beaten up the medical superintendent. “Police were present at the scene…they know we did not beat any one up, yet they have registered a case against us to appease the hospital staff.”

Muhammad Altaf, another relative of the deceased, said that their relative had died because of the staff’s negligence. “There was no staff on duty and she was kept waiting for treatment for six hours.”  If the government cares about citizens, it should take action against the Darya Khan THQ hospital staff, he said.

Rana Arshad, another relative, said the hospital’s administration should file a complaint against the staff that should have been on duty that day. “We give you three days to register a case…after that, we will continue our protest.” He said that the police should be the mediator between them and the hospital’s management. “The hospital management has filed a baseless case against us…but we will not back down,” Basheer said. Bhakkar City police had registered a case against Rana Arshad, Rana Shabbir, Aslam, Muhammad Altaf and 30 others.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th,  2016.