Family protests as patient dies in hospital

LAHORE: A fight between the family of a child patient and the doctors erupted in Children’s Hospital, here.

The 9-year-old child, Abubakar died due to alleged negligence of doctors in hot conditions due to non-functioning of air conditioners. As the family protested, the doctors allegedly tortured the father of the child and did not allow him to take the body for burial.

The doctors claimed that the child patient's family beat the doctors over non-functioning ACs, while actually family was protesting over lack of treatment in the absence of ACs. The patient had been under treatment in the hospital for 15-20 days.

A bitter argument took place between the relatives and the doctors after the child expired, but the doctors linked it with the ACs issue. They claimed that three other children also died due to hot conditions in hospital wards.

The father of the child and his brother were tortured and were handed over to police, while two doctors, Dr Bakhtiar Mukhtar and Dr Waqar Ahmed, who got injured and were treated at the emergency ward of Lahore General Hospital.

A leader of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) claimed that a case would be filed against the family members after getting the medico-legal on behalf of the two doctors. The witnesses said the doctors circulated wrong information about the incident and linked it with the non-functioning of ACs. The hospital administration said there was no issue of ACs not functioning.