Medical missions: PAT mobile clinics busy tending to injured

Injured workers preferring mobile clinics out of fear of arrests at hospitals.

ISLAMABAD: The scorching sun was up once again after the morning rain dismantled groups of the Pakistan-Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protesters on Constitution Avenue. It was close to noon when a truck with a loud speaker made an announcement for people to queue up for a meal most were going to have after almost 30 hours.

In tattered shirts with dried up bloodstains, protesters exposed their bruises. The morning clash between the protesters and the police concluded with an influx of new patients at the mobile clinics established by PAT. A total of 10 mobile clinics made of plastic sheets and sticks have been set up at different locations on Constitution Avenue with close to 200 trained first aid volunteers.

Hundreds of young women of PAT sat with their legs crossed on the road under the blazing sun. This was not the security team; it was the ‘Peace Protectors’ group of the Minhajul Quran consisting of 1,100 members. They underwent a course in first aid treatment and are now the front row force in times of clashes.

Shazia Butt, from Lahore, was heading the peace protectors. Handing out a plastic bag with cooked chickpeas and naan, she said most of the girls had not eaten for almost 30 hours.

“Dr Tahirul Qadri has told us to take the backseat in times of a clash, but we voluntarily want to be the front force,” she said.  Butt said that four vans consisting of first aid supplies were also set on fire during the clashes that broke out on Saturday evening.

Javeria, who came from Sialkot, has been a part of the PAT movement since August 1. She said several men and women were brutally injured during the clashes and those that were admitted to the hospital have not yet returned. Uncertain about the rumors about the number of workers being arrested from hospitals, Javeria said many have preferred treatment at the PAT mobile clinics to hospitals due to fear of being arrested from the hospitals.

The mobile clinic workers say they have not slept since Saturday. Cleaning wounds with limited supplies of antiseptic, Ghulam Ayesha in-charge of the mobile clinic established under a tree across the Pakistan Secretariat while circling bandage around a wounded protester said that the mobile clinics were close to running out of supplies.

Ayesha’s brother who was outside the red zone had managed to slip the cracks to purchase necessary medicines for the clinic. “He returned after six hours with two car trunks full of supplies of antibiotics, eye drops for shelling, water and necessary medicines. However, we will run out of these supplies too soon,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2014.