KARACHI: Hospitals must provide emergency aid: SHC
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 24: Hospitals and clinics are bound to provide all necessary and available emergency treatment to patients brought to them irrespective of the nature of their injury or ailment, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain of the Sindh High Court observed on Thursday.
Overruling preliminary objections to a suit for damages for an injured doctor’s death by alleged negligence, the judge observed that the health establishments could not evade their obligation to extend urgent medicare by saying that they were not authorized to deal with ‘medico-legal’ cases.
A doctor should go to any length to save a life. If a clinic is not well-equipped, it should provide the treatment available with it to enable a patient to shift to a better equipped hospital. Time is of the essence of treatment in emergency cases, whether a patient is suffering from heart trouble or from injuries received in an accident or murder attempt,” he emphasized.
The judge, therefore, decided to proceed with the hearing of the 185-million-suit filed by the heirs and dependents of the deceased, Dr Riaz Ahmed, on merit.
Dr Ahmed was on a visit home from the US when he was shot during a robbery attempt on Tariq Road, Karachi, in August 2001. He was taken to two hospitals, which allegedly failed to provide him the necessary treatment, saying that ‘medico-legal’ cases that entail criminal proceedings were dealt with by the Jinnah and Abbasi Shaheed hospitals. He was taken to a third hospital where he succumbed to his injuries in the course of surgery.
His widow, two sons and both parents instituted a suit against the hospitals through Advocate Nasir Maqsood, claiming damages amounting to Rs 185,025,000 on various counts. They said Dr Ahmed’s life could have been saved had he been extended due medical aid without loss of time, particularly to stop bleeding, by the first two hospitals he was taken to.
The judge held that the suit was competent to proceed under the Fatal Accidents Act and the Code of Civil Procedure.
NHA RESTRAINED: The Sindh High Court restrained the city government and the National Highway Authority on Thursday from carrying out ‘further demolitions’ to facilitate execution of the ‘Northern Bypass Project’.
A private company submitted through Advocate Mughees Ahmed Samdani that it had its office on Mauripur Road on a 600-square- yard plot since 1983. The plot and the building were lawfully acquired and built according to an approved plan by the petitioner company.
In disregard for the company’s interests and goodwill, the plot was being sought to be occupied and the building razed to pave way for the construction of the Northern Bypass, a city government project being executed by the NHA.
A division bench, comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, directed that notices be issued to the respondents for May 2 and that they should be restrained from undertaking demolition of the building in the meanwhile.
