Medical board fails to examine ‘tortured’ Cadet college student

The special medical board did not meet owing to the unavailability of board chairman Ashraf and another of its member

KARACHI: A 10-member medical board constituted by the Sindh health department to assess the health of a class VIII student of the Cadet College, Larkana, who was tortured allegedly by a teacher at the institution, has postponed its first meeting.

The boy’s father alleged that his son — Muhammad Ahmed Hussain — was unconscious and bleeding when the student was handed over to him on August 10. He accused the principal and a house master of the college of torturing his son so severely that he fell unconscious and was still fighting for his life.



The special medical board, headed by Civil Hospital Karachi’s neurosurgeon Junaid Ashraf, was to meet at 11:30am on Monday to examine the student at the medical ICU of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

But it could not meet owing to the unavailability of board chairman Ashraf and another of its member – Dr Umar Farooq, professor of ENT at Civil Hospital.

According to a health department notification, the National Institute of Child Health’s director, Dr Jamal Raza, would be the convener of the board with Dr Umer Farooq, ENT surgeon, CHK; Prof Lal Rehman, neurosurgeon, JPMC; Dr Muhammad Usman, ENT surgeon, JPMC; Dr Iqbal Ahmed Moghira and Dr Prem Chand of the Aga Khan University Hospital; Dr Jalil Qadir, director, CB Lab; Prof Muhammad Hasan Shaikh and Dr Alam Ibrahim Siddiqui of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University, Larkana, as its members.



According to the terms of reference, the board would examine the boy and furnish its recommendations for his treatment either in the country or abroad. The board would determine the possible cause of the injuries and submit its report on the same day.

Hussain’s father, Muhammad Rashid Mashori, told The Express Tribune that the board must examine his son so that a decision with regard to starting his treatment could be taken.

“My child has been suffering serious pain since August 10 – the day he was allegedly tortured by the college staff and we cannot further delay his treatment.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2016.