Facebook page of the day: Justice for Imanae Malik, going strong

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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