SADIQABAD:
A 17-year-old girl died on Wednesday allegedly due to a wrong injection at the tehsil headquarters hospital.
The body was kept in a locked room for more than 12 hours by the hospital management before it was handed over to the family after they protested against the dispenser and the management.
Her family accused the person who gave her the injection of negligence which they said caused the girl’s death. They chanted slogans against the doctors and the hospital and broke some windows and damaged hospital property.
Police said the deceased, Nadia, was brought to tehsil headquarters hospital with a back pain. Her father, Syed Razzaq Shah, a resident of Rasheedabad, said his family speculated that she was suffering from kidney pain. He said when they reached the hospital at around 2 am, there was no doctor at the emergency ward.
He said they waited for the duty doctor to arrive, but seeing her condition deteriorate, a paramedic, Mazhar, gave her an injection and told them to return home. But, Razzaq said, his daughter’s condition got worse. He said she turned pale and started screaming in pain. He said she died within a few minutes. He said the paramedic refused to hand the body over saying they had to wait for the doctor on duty, Sohaib Anjum, to return. He said the hospital management later said that the body will be sent for a post-mortem examination. Razzaq said his family did not want a post-mortem examination.
“The doctors and the management wouldn’t give us the body,” he said.
He said the hospital management was telling him not to prosecute the dispenser or the hospital. He said some of his relatives who arrived at the hospital on learning about the death protested against the hospital and the doctors.
“Finally, they gave us the body when we assured them that we will not prosecute them,” he said.
Later, father of the deceased, held a press conference, where he requested the chief minister, the Heath Department, the Bahawalpur district coordination officer and the commissioner to take notice of the incident and punish those responsible. He alleged that his daughter had died due to the dispenser’s negligence. He also asked the Lahore High Court chief justice to take suo motu notice of the incident and order a murder prosecution.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2012.
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