Botched robbery? Doctor shot, injured at clinic

Gynecologist underwent a five-hour operation

ISLAMABAD:

A woman doctor was shot and injured at her clinic on Thursday by unidentified gunmen, said a police official.

The police said that the incident took place in the morning while gynaecologist Dr Uzma Khan, 34, was having breakfast at her clinic near the Islamabad Expressway.

Police said that a man entered the doctor’s room on the pretext of getting an appointment for his wife.

After ten minutes, he returned with another man and held the doctor and her assistant at gunpoint while attempting to loot mobile phones, laptops and other valuables from the clinic.

When the doctor and assistant resisted, one of them opened fire with a 30-bore pistol and hit Khan, said Khuram Shahzad, the investigation officer of the case.

Later, the doctor was shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), where she underwent a five-hour long surgery. Dr Allah Dost, who operated on Dr Khan, said her condition was stable at the time this report was filed.

Khanna Police SHO Aashiq Hussain told The Express Tribune that it appeared to be an attempted robbery, but the police could not rule out the possibility of a target killing attempt.

He said that the police also recovered a license for a 9mm pistol from the doctor’s clinic, suggesting she may have been threatened in the past.

Hussain said that the doctor had married recently and her husband was working in the UK. The police officer said she had not joined him there as she did not want to leave her father alone in Pakistan.

The officer said that investigations were underway but they did not have the statement of the injured doctor yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2015.