KARACHI, Dec 31: The Sindh High Court asked its Nazir on Wednesday to secure from a Clifton hospital the record of a patient who died there during a surgical process.

Hina Irfan, 29, was admitted to Ziauddin Hospital's outpatients ward on March 21 for tubal ligation. After an ultrasound, the hospital gynaecologist diagnosed her to have a "missed abortion" and admitted her the next day for surgical treatment.

As Hina was taken to the operation theatre at 3-30 pm on March 22, Irfan Khan, her husband, was told that the "minor surgery" involved no complication and that he could go home to drop their children.

About an hour later, he received a call from the gynaecologist that his wife suffered cardiac arrest in the operation theatre and that her condition was serious. He found Hina unconscious on his arrival at the hospital at 5pm.

But the hospital staff told him that her condition had already undergone some improvement, that she had started breathing without mechanical support and that she had been shifted from the theatre to the intensive care unit.

Irfan consulted a family doctor and a renowned neurosurgeon to have a second opinion and was informed by both that Hina was clinically dead and there could be no improvement in her condition.

The hospital authorities contested the opinion. On March 24, however, they also declared her dead and put her off the ventilator. Cerebral anoxia and cardiac arrest were cited as causes.

Irfan and his five minor children from Hina instituted a suit against the hospital for Rs 150 million on various counts. Their counsel, Nasir Maqsood, submitted before Justice Maqbool Baqar that Hina's death was entirely attributable to breach of duty, negligence and malpractices on the part of the hospital and its staff concerned.

The ultrasound report did not reveal pregnancy and there was no question of a "missed abortion". She was carelessly administered anaesthesia and hurriedly operated upon, which led to respiratory arrest.

The mere fact that the hospital was not prepared to supply the plaintiffs the relevant medical record, the counsel argued, showed that it wanted to protect its staff and their wrongdoing. Justice Baqar asked the nazir to take hold of the record and keep it in his safe custody till further orders.