Out on the streets: Family protests doctor’s negligence

FAISALABAD:

Scores of residents of Pindi Sheikh Musa village staged a protest demonstration on Wednesday against alleged negligence of a doctor at Tandlianwala THQ hospital.

The protesters gathered at Okara-Faisalabad Road near the Nehar Bangla bridge and blocked the road for traffic.

Talking to newsmen, Roshan Chohan said his 28-year-old son Jahangir had fallen ill and had taken to the hospital with a fever.  “Jahangir was admitted to the emergency ward but there was no doctor available,” he said.  “We asked the staff who was the doctor on duty. They told us that the doctor on duty was entertaining some guests. “We went over to the doctor and asked him to check my son but he sent us away,” he said.

He said the doctor was asked several times to tend to the patient but to no avail. He said his son died an hour and a half later.  The family placed his body at the Okara-Faisalabad Road near Nehar Bangla bridge and chanted slogans against the hospital administration. They urged the chief minister to take notice of the incident. They demanded that the doctor be dismissed from service.  Later, a police team led by the Tandlianwala SHO met the protesters and assured them that the matter would be investigated and action would be taken against the doctor if he was found guilty of negligence. The protesters dispersed on receiving the assurance.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2015.