General hospital: Dead child’s family stages protest

LAHORE: A bereaved family broke windows in an operation theatre and burnt tyres on the road outside Lahore General Hospital on Sunday after a young girl died. The police later registered a case against 20 unidentified persons on the complaint of a doctor. Ayesha, 8, was brought to the hospital after she fell from the roof of her house on Walton Road. Family members alleged that she died around four hours after arriving at the hospital because there was a lack of oxygen and doctors had not treated her properly. Doctors at the hospital said that she had received critical injuries in the fall and these caused her death. They said they had enough oxygen. After they heard of her death, family members in the hospital got angry and broke windows. They staged a protest on Ferozepur Road that blocked traffic for several hours until police officials arrived at the scene and pledged to investigate their claims. The protestors burnt tyres and chanted slogans against doctors as the child’s body lay on the ground.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th,  2011.