Court orders police to probe medical-negligence in dengue death in Hyderabad

As a lack of clarity continues to cloud the statistics of dengue infected patients and, consequent, deaths amid allegations of questionable medical treatment, a father has knocked the door of a court against the government health practitioners. The Additional District and Sessions Judge I Hyderabad on Tuesday ordered the police to start a probe into the alleged negligence of the health officials of Liaquat University Hospital in the death of a young man, Hasnain Ali Zardari.

Advocate Amir Lutf Ali Zardari, father, pleaded before the court that poor health services at the LUH failed to save life of his son who was admitted to the hospital on October 19. According to him, he took his dengue-positive son to the LUH at around 9am. The patient was referred to the medical ward II but to due to unavailability of a bed he was kept seated on a wheel chair till his nose started to bleed by 3pm.

Afterwards, Zardari approached the hospital's Medical Superintendent Dr Akbar Ali Dahiri through phone and the MS helped arranged a 'stretcher' for the patient. He claimed that he witnessed a scarcity of doctors in the medical ward II and that only a few female doctors present there were busy on their mobile phones.

Hasnain breathed his last on October 22 and his father has blamed the LUH's concerned doctors for his death. "My son was left at the mercy of the untrained staff." The lawyer prayed the court to order the Market police station to register an FIR on his complaint, nominating Assistant Registrar Prof Dr Iqbal Shah and some other doctors for his son's death.

Advocate Rehana Siddiqui, who represented the MS, apprised the court that no bed was available in the dengue ward when Hasnain was brought to the hospital. According to her, due to said situation the deceased was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on October 20.

"It is worth mentioning here that one young boy lost his life due to a lack of proper medical treatment," the judge noted in the order. "Apparently, this is a case of medical negligence."

He later gave reference of the Sindh High Court's order in Dr Sheeraz-ur-Rehman and others versus the Sindh government case in which the high court had issued guidelines for the police to investigate such cases with the help of the Sindh Healthcare Commission.

The court directed the police to record statement of the applicant. However, the police were barred from arresting any accused person until 'tangible' evidence is found against them and after the commission ended up fixing responsibility on the accused doctors.

Hyderabad is witnessing an outbreak of dengue, as far as the public's outcry is concerned. The govt authorities, however, have tried to play down the intensity.