Eight-year-old passes away soon after she was administered injection at private clinic. PHOTO: FILE
The minor, Saba Noor daughter of Zafar Iqbal, was brought to a private clinic, known as Adnan Clinic in Block 13-D, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, on Saturday evening complaining of chest congestion and shortness of breath, where she was administered an injection by Dr Adnan. Shortly after, she started suffering fits prompting the doctor to escape. While the girl was being shifted to a private hospital, she passed away on the way.
The police, taking immediate action, arrested the doctor in a raid conducted late Saturday night. According to Gulshan-e-Iqbal DSP Ali Hasan Sheikh, Adnan was a quack and had been running his medical clinic for years and the credentials submitted by him turned out to be bogus.
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Sheikh said that the police was informed about the incident through the Madadgar Helpline 15 at around 1:30am on Saturday night. Upon receiving the information, the police immediately reached the clinic but the doctor had already fled away. The police then raided his second clinic near old Sabzi Mandi, where he was found and arrested.
Case registered
A case no. 234/19 has been registered against Dr Adnan at Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station under the Section 322 [murder charges] and Section 319 [unintentional murder] of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Saba's father, Zafar.
The parents of the deceased girl in their statements to the police said that their daughter died within minutes after being administered the injection.
The DSP said that the certificates submitted by the arrested doctor turned out to be fake when checked by the police through the Internet, which would include sections 468 [Forgery for purpose of cheating], 420 [Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property] and 471 [Using as genuine a forged document] in the case.
The detained doctor does not even know the meaning of MBBS, the DSP said. The doctor also holds a bogus medical card of homeopathic doctor, the DSP added.
The deceased's mother, Farzana Zafar, demanded action against quack doctors as they are playing with the lives of people including children.
Post mortem
The post-mortem of the eight-year-old was conducted at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) after a delay of eight hours due to the absence of the medico-legal officer (MLO). The body of Saba Noor was brought to JPMC at 10am on Sunday morning but the parents had to wait for the availability of the MLO for five hours. Upon arriving, MLO Dr Zakia Khursheed said that the equipment and accessories needed for post-mortem including chemicals, bottles, gloves, needles and other items were not available. Due to this, there was a delay of another two hours.
Dr Khursheed said that due to the unavailability of another lady MLO, she had to come for post-mortems even on her off days.
Five samples obtained from the blood of the deceased have been sent to the chemical department and laboratory at the University of Karachi.
The final report, she said, would be released after lab reports. Meanwhile, Saba Noor's body was handed over to the parents after the post-mortem.
Doctor's version
On the other hand, Dr Adnan said that patient Saba Noor was brought to his clinic with the complaint of chest congestion, but upon check-up, the patient showed normal breathing. He asked the parents to bring an injection for her. When the injection was administered, the girl immediately started suffering fits.
The mother told him that the girl faced such a condition on the administration of injections and under such conditions, she is taken to hospital.
The girl eventually started choking, Dr Adnan claimed adding that seeing this condition he advised the parents to immediately shift her to another hospital.
The doctor claimed that he had administered the correct dose and injection and that he was ready to face consequences if the injection was wrong. The doctor claimed that he received his education from a homeopathic college and does not possess MBBS degree. He also claimed to have completed several courses and had been running the clinic for the past 18 years.
When asked if as a homeopathic doctor he was qualified to administer injections, he remained silent. The doctor also said that he had committed a mistake and would seek pardon from the parents of the girl.
With additional reporting from Raheel Salman
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