Attack aftermath: 29 still under treatment after PAF base assault

Ten-year-old Jamil Ahmad driven out of LRH in military ambulance

PESHAWAR: While the gun battle between militants and security forces began at the city’s Pakistan Air Force Badhaber base on Friday morning, ambulances zipped through Inqilab Road to rush the injured to the hospital. The preferred destinations were Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and Combined Military Hospital (CMH).

Although many were discharged after being provided basic medical assistance, 29 of the injured, comprising both civilians and security officials, are still undergoing treatment at CMH. “Some of them still need to be kept at the facility,” a security official posted at the military health facility told The Express Tribune. “However, those with minor injuries have been discharged.”

According to the Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR), Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif visited the hospital and met the injured airmen and security officials. Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman and Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant General Hidayatur Rehman also visited CMH.

At least 29 people, including an army captain, were killed when militants stormed the heavily guarded base on the outskirts of the city.

Province’s biggest

Lady Reading Hospital has been in the thick of affairs every time terror has struck the region. As soon as firing began at the base, emergency was declared at the hospital. The injured were brought to the hospital amid tight security and were later shifted to CMH.

In the line of fire

Ten-year-old Jamil Ahmad was on his way to school when he was caught in the line of the crossfire between security officials and militants. Having received bullet wounds, the eighth grader was rushed to LRH in a private vehicle. Suspecting him of having nothing to do with the airbase attack, the hospital administration allegedly demanded Ahmad to pay Rs250 as admission charges before medical assistance could be provided. “We had initially asked him for money,” an LRH official said. “However, after media reports confirmed he was injured in the incident, we decided to admit him.”

When contacted, LRH Public Relations Officer Syed Jamil Shah termed the allegations baseless. He said the person who brought Ahmad to the hospital and spoke to the media was not his father.

“We admitted him and provided him with every possible facility. The allegations have no truth to them,” he told The Express Tribune. “Later Ahmad’s father was contacted who confirmed no one asked them for any money.” Ahmad was subsequently discharged from LRH and taken to CMH on Friday – this time in a military ambulance.

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