PIMS gun attack: Doctors threaten indefinite strike

Give 48 hours to admin to ensure foolproof security at hospitals; Dr Malik shifted to CMH.

ISLAMABAD: Doctors on Monday staged a protest rally outside Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) against gun attack on one of their senior colleagues.

Dr Shahid Nawaz Malik, head of cardiology department was shot in the head by an unidentified gunman on Friday, injuring him critically.

He was shifted to the Combined Military Hospital late Sunday night on the request of his family as the CT scanner at Pims has been non-functional for the last one week, said a source adding that the bullet was still inside the brain.

Young Doctors Association activists from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), Polyclinic, Capital Development Authority Hospital and National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine gathered outside the hospital and blocked Ibne Sina Road for an hour.

They threatened to go on indefinite strike if the city and Pims administrations failed to ensure foolproof security to doctors at the institute and other hospitals of the capital in 48 hours.

They also demanded arrest of the attackers and sending the case to the military courts.

Meanwhile, Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Barrister Usman Ibrahim has expressed dissatisfaction over the security measures taken by the Pims administration.

The minister at a meeting on Monday said that the Pims authorities had been directed January last to install CCTV cameras at the largest referral hospital of the country but no progress has been made in this regard.

He ordered Pims administration to immediately install CCTV cameras at all entry and exist points besides constructing a peripheral wall which has collapsed.

He also said that patrolling should be made mandatory at the hospital round the clock. Walk-through gates should also be installed at the main entrance of the hospital.

“The Pims management will provide weekly updates to ensure foolproof security to all the medical staff,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University Vice-Chancellor Prof Javed Akram told the meeting that security was being beefed up at Pims in consultation with civil and military authorities.

He said that the hospital administration was in the process of hiring additional security guards.

“It is painful to send a critical patient out of the hospital to get his CT-scan done, it is equal to putting a life of a patient at risk,” he said.

Meanwhile the capital police issued sketch of the suspected attacker.

The suspect with long hair, brown eyebrows, fair skinned is aged between 22 and 25. The sketch has been prepared on the basis of the information provided by the witness and a copy of it has also been sent to the police stations in the capital.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2015.