PHOTO: REUTERS
KARACHI: A 24-year-old woman from Hyderabad was allegedly raped by at least six men working at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) early on Friday.
SIUT, a reputable medical institution in the country that provides free-of-charge specialised medical care to people suffering from kidney- and liver-related diseases, denied the family’s claims. A press release issued by the hospital on Friday evening claimed that they had security footage proving the girl was not raped.
H*, a dialysis patient, was a regular visitor at SIUT. She was discharged from the hospital on May 9 after nearly two weeks of treatment and was called for a follow-up check-up on Thursday night.
“I was with her,” said the victim’s nephew, Saddam Hussain, while speaking to The Express Tribune. “The dialysis was scheduled for 12am but the doctors delayed it till 3am,” he said. The doctors took her to the second floor for the dialysis and asked Hussain to wait outside the dialysis centre. “They took advantage of my absence,” he claimed.
According to Hussain, the doctors and paramedics allegedly raped her and then took her for the dialysis. She was asked to go home after 6am. “I had no idea what had happened to her at the hospital. She seemed shocked which caused suspicions,” shared Hussain. “We started questioning her and, around 9am, she narrated all that happened.”
H told the family that a group of six doctors and paramedics gang raped her before the dialysis. The family rushed her to Eidgah police station where the police asked for a medical examination before registering the case.
They took H to Services Hospital situated near Civil Hospital, Karachi, where Dr Sumayya conducted her medical examination. According to her initial medical examination report, H was subjected to gang rape. “The police registered a case in the afternoon after we returned with the medical report,” said Hussain. “We want justice and we appeal to the higher authorities and the media to help us.”
No arrests yet
Eidgah police confirmed that an FIR No 79/16 has been registered against six unidentified men. “We have just started recording the statements of the [hospital] employees but so far we could not find any suspects,” said Eidgah SHO Naeemuddin. “As the medical report has also confirmed the rape, we will have to obtain the CCTV footage as well,” he added. “The woman told us that she can identify their faces and we will have to arrange an identification parade soon.”
Hospital denies
Meanwhile, SIUT issued a press release completely denying the incident took place. There is no iota of truth in the incident of alleged case of criminal assault, said a hospital spokesperson, adding that senior officials at SIUT reviewed the in-house security camera footage along with the police officers for the time duration that the woman was inside hospital premises.
“The subject woman remains visible throughout the period while she was at SIUT,” stated the press release, adding that this was merely an attempt to tarnish the institute’s image.
Name withheld to protect identity
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2016.
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