PIMS strike claims life

Doctors refused to treat a 27-year-old man brought to the public health facility, says family

ISLAMABAD: The strike by medical and non-medical staff at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims ), which has been going on since October 2, allegedly took the life of a patient.

According to the relatives of the deceased, he did not get any treatment at the hospital because the doctors and paramedics were busy in their protest.

The attendants said they had brought 27-year-old Umar Aftab to the hospital on Monday morning, but the doctors refused to tend to him due to the strike.

After being refused treatment, they went back. The patient was brought to the hospital again at night after he lost consciousness, but doctors in the emergency ward declared him as dead, the patient’s mother and uncle claimed.

However, hospital records claimed the patient was already dead when he was brought to the hospital.

The patient who was suffering from blood clotting was the sole breadwinner of his family. He has left behinds his mother and two sisters. The hospital has constituted a four-member inquiry committee to investigate claims of negligence with directions to present a report within 24 hours.

Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram said they will determine who was responsible for the incident and they will be brought to justice.

The medical and non-medical staff of Pims have been boycotting their duties at the outpatient departments and laboratories for over two weeks, demanding a separation of the hospital from SZABMU.

On Tuesday the OPD services began functioning partially.

Patients were registered for check-ups and lab tests after 11am. The partial opening of the OPD saw a huge rush of patients who lined up for healthcare services.

Bill awaited

A proposed bill to separate university from the hospital is expected to be discussed at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday (today). But the employees have given a deadline to pass the bill by parliament by October 18, which ends today, or else they will shut down services at Pims completely while the strike would also be expanded to other hospitals in the capital.

The issue of the strike was also discussed at a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Tuesday.

The committee expressed its strong displeasure over the unnecessary delay in separating Pims from SZABMU and directed that the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) take stringent measures to resolve the issue within a month and report to the committee.

The panel further directed that the CADD minister may hold a meeting with the Pims employees, urging them to call off the strike since patients were suffering badly due to non-availability of doctors in OPD.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2017.