Relatives protest after woman dies in hospital

Family claims doctors ignored the patient for hours as Attock DHO orders inquiry

ATTOCK: Angry and charged relatives of a female patient ransacked the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Fateh Jang on Monday over what they claimed was medical negligence.

The son, daughter and other relatives of the deceased woman, Zaibun Nisa, claimed that after she felt pain in her chest, they rushed her to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital (THQ). Doctors in the emergency ward allegedly gave the woman an injectable after a cursory diagnosis and asked the family to take her home.

The family complied.

But when Zaibun Nisa’s condition worsened at home, they rushed her back to the emergency ward of the THQ.

However, the family claimed that this time, the doctors on duty in the emergency ward ignored the patient for hours. When the woman’s daughter protested the indifference shown by doctors, one doctor on duty began to record the patient’s attendants with her mobile phone. When the woman succumbed to her affliction, her family was overcome with grief and anger and allegedly ransacked the hospital.

M Yaqoob, the husband of the patient, claimed that the doctors present on duty had completely ignored their requests of giving proper attention and treatment to his wife, which resulted in her death.

THQ Medical Superintendent Dr Mansoor said that the protesters allegedly damaged furniture, fixtures, machinery, equipment and the glass doors of the hospital.

However, Attock District Health Department Chief Executive Officer Dr Sohail Ejaz Awan has said that he has ordered an investigation into the incident. The woman’s family has urged the Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid to take notice of the incident and to initiate strict action against the negligence shown by the hospital staff.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2020.