What purpose do Facebook pages serve? Is it to connect those sharing a similar interest? Are they an information feed flowing in from a source to its consumer(s)? Or are they meant to go beyond banal information dissemination and bring about community cohesion in one form or another?
One Facebook page born out of gross injustice has transformed into a life saver for thousands.
The page in question is Justice for Imanae Malik which was started almost two years back as a plea by the parents of the then three year old Imane Malik who became a victim of doctor incompetence in Lahore.
Malik had been playing with other girls on Eid when some hot water was spilt on her wrist. Seeing her pain her parents took her to the Doctors Hospital and Medical Centre in Johar Town, Lahore. As the on duty doctor struggled to adequately address the wounds of the child, he gave her wrong injections which complicated her condition, pushing her life into danger.
Doctors at the hospital when notified of the complications tried desperately to revive the child, all the while telling her parents nothing of what had happened. When the doctors gave up, her parents took their dying child in their car (the hospital refused immediate services of an ambulance) to the Children's Hospital where the child was declared dead.
The issue made national television with cases being lodged in a sessions court and the Supreme Court. A direct result of this case and the stand taken by the Malik family (which rejected a Rs50 million settlement) was the introduction and adoption of healthcare reform bills in the Punjab Assembly. (The Punjab Healthcare Act of 2010 was passed by the assembly on July 23, 2010).
The Facebook page which was created to garner support for reform of private sector healthcare though evolved on a tangent.
With initial media frenzy surrounding the case, the page quickly grew having thousands of followers in the weeks following the incident. Though as public interest waned in the case it self, the page owners and other people started using the page as a means to communicate blood requirements at different hospitals.
The moderators, and other people keep posting requirements of blood with contact details to help those who are in urgent need of transfusions.
Though most pages die out over time, Justice for Imanae Malik, with over 200,000 strong now, has been continuing to seek justice for the three year old Imanae and provides a forum to people in need of urgent critical medical help. This has been exemplified with the recent explosion of dengue with members sharing information about where they can obtain platelets.
Facebook page rating: Two thumbs up for seeking justice, bringing about societal change and continuing to save lives everyday.
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COMMENTS (6)
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These issues arise in Pak on daily basis. The only solution for them is that the courts and justice should be cheap and fair for everyone! Or else we wont be able to control these issues!
Quite recently, another <1 year old died in Karachi due to the doctor's wrong attitude, they got into an argument with the victim's father and discharged the child abruptly.....and his parents shared their grief on a news channel. The clinic was also shown and has already been infamous due to certain cases earlier, I won't mention it's name since I am not sure if then ET will allow my comment to appear.
Pakistan is a country where corrupt and controversial characters are awarded with the title of 'Doctor',fake degrees and their usage have become order of the day and education system is weak and failed.....In such cases, it's not rare to witness inexperienced and unqualified doctors handling crucial cases and commiting blunders such as this.
I live in Canada, and have seen many Pakistanis who had high profile jobs back home and Middle East,but have to do odd jobs here to survive. The reason is simple-they don't consider qualifications and experience of many Asian nations. And after watching such incidents I wonder if Canadian hospitals etc....would or should ever take a risk.
Various governments came and went during the last six decades but none of the government including the sitting government has been able to move a bill in the parliament to protect the patients from doctors.
In developed countries, the patients have the right to file a suit against any doctor who do not properly take care of a patient, but unfortunately the life of a common man does not mean any thing to the government.
The legal heirs of the deceased (in special cases) are paid Rs.1,00,000 and the injured are paid Rs.50,000. This is what the cost of a human being is in Pakistan.
All the politicians and legislators want their individual publicity to be made in the print and electronic media, but no body is sincere with a common man of Pakistan.
I don’t have words to sympathies with the parents of Imanae Malik, as an innocent girl was mistreated by the Doctors at the local hospital.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan should take a suo-moto notice of this particular case and institute a case in the court of law against such doctor(s) who was/were responsible to save the precious human life of Imanae Malik, instead of giving her wrong injections.
Nothing new about it. my father died the same way. he was having cardiac arrest and doctor gave him gastric injection and he lost his life. i wish i could burn that doctor