Pims anaesthetic takes senior official to court

Says he was abused and forced into signing a document saying he took money from a patient for surgery.

ISLAMABAD:

An anaesthetic at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has taken a senior Pims official and a patient to the court over being threatened and abused.

Dr Zaheeruddin, assistant anaesthetic, filed a writ petition in city district court against Dr Raja Amjad, joint executive director of Children’s Hospital at Pims, for using abusive language, and threatening and pressuring him into signing a document that said he took Rs90,000 from a brain tumour patient for a surgery.

Sources said 26-year-old Imran from Gujar Khan was admitted on May 15 for a brain surgery. He was brought to the hospital by Abdullah, who knew Dr Zaheeruddin. One of the senior neurologists was scheduled to do the surgery but could not do so as it was his off day.

Imran then registered a complaint with the hospital administration on May 24, accusing Dr Zaheeruddin of taking money from him for the surgery and failing to arrange it, thereby forcing him to leave the hospital untreated.

Dr Zaheeruddin said instead of the officials authorised to take action on the complaint, he got a call from Dr Amjad asking him to meet up.

“When I met him, he asked me to sign a paper that said I took Rs90,000 from Imran to do his brain surgery. On my refusal, Dr Amjad used abusive language and threatened me, and forced me to sign the paper, which I did,” claimed Dr Zaheeruddin, adding that he had not taken a single penny from the patient.

Later a three-member committee comprising Dr Gayas Butt, Dr Rubina and Dr Badar was constituted by the Pims administration to probe into the matter.

Dr Zaheeruddin said no preliminary inquiry had been conducted by the hospital administration in this regard and no letter /notification was issued to him asking him to come before the administration to give his version.

“Ever since a story about me and some of my colleagues in cardiology department not getting salaries for the past 8-9 months was published, I have been facing trouble from the administration,” said Dr Zaheeruddin.

Abdullah, who had accompanied Imran, said he was called by Dr Amjad to inquire about the matter.

“Dr Amjad [was using] extremely abusive language. I was shocked to hear such a language from a doctor at such a high position and for a moment I felt like I was in a police station, rather then in a hospital,” he said.

After the meeting, he was asked to appear before the committee constituted by the hospital administration, who disregarded his version by saying that none of the patient files had any information on him being there when Dr Zaheeruddin was dealing with Imran.

Dr Amjad, when contacted, denied his involvement in the incident and said that he had no relation with the matter as he is in Children’s Hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2011.