Shots fired: PIMS cardiology chief critically injured

Police, hospital admin clueless about attackers.

ISLAMABAD: A senior doctor was critically injured after being shot at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Saturday.

He was said to be unresponsive till the filing of this report, according to sources.

It was the second targeted attack at the hospital in three weeks. Earlier, a 22-year-old nursing student was shot on the premises on January 23.

PIMS spokesperson Dr Ayesha Ishani said that Dr Shahid Nawaz, head of the hospital’s cardiology unit, was shot in the head outside the VIP ward on Saturday afternoon. “The bullet has injured the left side of his brain. He is in critical condition,” she told The Express Tribune.

She said Nawaz, 57, was leaving the hospital and going to his car, which was parked near the cardiology department, when he was attacked at around 3:30pm.

Nawaz was operated on for over 90 minutes and then shifted to the surgical intensive care unit (ICU).

A senior doctor, who requested not to be named, said that the bullet was not pulled out during the surgery because of the amount of bleeding. Meanwhile, the hospital’s CT scanner and an X-ray machine were out of order, and senior neurosurgeons not present at the time.

Nawaz was taken to the surgical ward for an X-ray. Hospital officials said that a medical team led by Professor Dr Khaleequz Zaman, head of neurosurgery, reached the hospital almost two hours after the incident.

The two gunmen escaped from the hospital unhindered. There is no footage of the attackers as the CCTV cameras installed at the hospital were also out-of-order, the official added.

Margalla SHO Rukhsar Mehdi, who is also investigation officer of the case, said the police were still investigating and had nothing to share with the media. An FIR had not been registered when this report was filed.

Dr Nawaz has been working with Pims for the last eight years. He was appointed head of cardiology two years back. Nawaz has four daughters and two sons.

A cardiologist said that Nawaz never told his colleagues of any personal enmity.

There have been several high-profile cases in recent weeks at the hospital — a newborn was stolen on January 9, followed by a shooting incident on January 23. Both cases remain open.

The official said that the hospital administration had not taken any additional security measures after the two incidents.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2015.