Doctor’s protest costs patient his life in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The ongoing protest of the doctors and paramedical staff at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad, cost a patient his life, Geo News reported on Tuesday,

A patient, identified as Umar Aftab, was taken to the hospital after he complained of leg pain on October 16 at 11:27 AM. However, the doctors and medical staff refused to attend the patient due to the strike.

“The doctors and nurses were reading magazines and said they can’t take the patient because of the strike,” shared the patient’s brother with Geo News.

The patient’s brother and sister visited one ward after another but to no avail. After almost five hours, the family members took Umar home as no one was willing to attend him.

However, early Tuesday morning the patient’s health deteriorated and he was rushed to the hospital. But, he had died by the time the family reached the hospital.

After the case surfaced, PIMS executive director formed a three-member committee to probe the issue, which was headed by Dr Iqbal Memon.

However, the hospital staff claimed that the patient was not brought in on October 16 at all. Rather, the family brought a body with them at 3:26 AM Tuesday morning.

“It is wrong to say that the patient was brought in the afternoon,” said the hospital admin.

However, the deceased’s family has the slip which they were given after they brought Umar to the hospital the first time, which tells a different story.

Umar was the only breadwinner of the family as his father had passed away three months ago. The patient died due to a heart attack as there was a blood clot in his leg.

As the PIMS strike continues for the 16th consecutive day, more than 50,000 patients continue to suffer and about 3,000 operations have been postponed.

The medical and paramedical staff demand that PIMS, which is the constituent hospital of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, should be separated from the university.