Saving human lives

The Sindh CM has approved the rules for the Sindh Injured Persons Compulsory Medical Treatment (Amal Umer) Act 0f 2019. Under these rules, hospitals shall have to provide immediate medical treatment to any injured person without complying with medico-legal formalities. Before the promulgation of the new law, hospitals would refuse to provide medical treatment to injured persons whose medico-legal formalities had not been completed. This caused unnecessary delays, and in the process many precious lives were lost which otherwise could have been saved. This mostly happened in cases of traffic accidents and of firing. The police also argued about their jurisdictions, that is, in which police station’s jurisdiction a person had suffered injuries. This further delayed the provision of medical treatment to the victim.

On August 13, 2018 in Karachi, a 10-year-old girl named Amal Umar was hit by a bullet during an exchange of fire between robbers and the police. Her parents rushed her to the nearest hospital where doctors refused to give her treatment due to the lack of medico-legal formalities. The girl died while on the way to another hospital. It is generally believed that she died due to the delay in providing her the necessary treatment. Amal’s death caused public outrage. The Sindh Assembly passed the much-needed law in 2019 in the aftermath of her death. The law binds all hospital to provide immediate treatment to injured persons. Under the law, the police will not be allowed to ‘interrupt or interfere’ until the injured person is deemed out of danger. Doctors will also not be bound to obtain the consent of relatives while providing the necessary treatment. The law removes hindrances that delayed the provision of necessary treatment to injured persons.

Laws are there to protect people and make life comfortable. We hope this law will be implemented in both letter and in spirit and help save lives. We should all uphold the sanctity of human life.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2019.

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