Targeted professionals: Doctors seek protection after attack on KMC principal

Demand attackers of Noorul Iman be immediately identified, brought to justice

PESHAWAR: The medical community expressed concern over the attack on former Khyber Medical College principal Noorul Iman and pressed the government to take his attackers to task.

Unidentified men opened fire at Iman’s car when he was headed home from his private clinic in Dabgari Gardens in the city. The area has a large number of medical clinics and thousands of patients come there for medical checkups.

Soon after the attack, doctors associations urged the government to take steps to ensure the safety of doctors. Several doctors had been killed in recent times, they added.

“We have a written agreement signed between doctors and the police whereby we were assured quick response force teams will be deployed at all health facilities, including buildings where the medics practice,” Young Doctors Association Patron-in-Chief Dr Alamgir Yousafzai told The Express Tribune.

He added the government always tightened security arrangements after such incidents, but forgot to maintain them. He stressed Iman’s incident was not the first one to be condemned by the medics who have lost several peers over the years.

Yousafzai said Dr Amjad Taqweem and Dr Intikhab Alam were kidnapped and later released, but the latter is still receiving threats.

He added these professionals were being targeted because they treated those patients who suffered injuries in terror attacks.

“When agencies fail and militants carry out terror attacks, we save people. That is the reason we are being targeted,” Yousafzai stressed.

“One of the best orthopedic surgeons, Dr Shakir, had to leave for the United Kingdom after some armed men attacked him,” Yousafzai recalled.

He added doctors could live anywhere in the world since they obtained professional degrees, but it is the poverty-stricken citizens that would suffer.

Besides YDA, Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) also held a meeting at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) where members expressed concerns over the lack of security arrangements for doctors.

They demanded the assailants be immediately identified and brought to justice. Also, a statement issued by Insaf Doctors Forum (IDF) condemned the attack on Dr Iman.

“We demand government use modern technology to solve this case and arrest the culprits. They should be given exemplary punishment so that nobody dares to attack doctors in future,” the statement read. It urged authorities to form a special investigation team.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2016.