June 28, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 23, 1429

KARACHI, June 27: An inquiry committee formed to probe the June 24 incident in which, according to media reports, two persons injured in a road accident were wrongly declared dead by the doctors of the Civil Hospital Karachi, has concluded that the duty doctor declared the patient dead upon clinical examination.

According to the statement issued by the health department, the committee is of the opinion that the confusion was created by some “unauthentic and wrong observations perceived by relatives (of the victims) present at the site of the incident, that bleeding always occurs in a living person.” The health minister had ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Among the conclusions of the committee was that the body of Mr Jalil Khan was dead when it was brought to the casualty ward and the duty doctor had declared him dead after clinical examination and certified it as such.

The committee also reached the conclusion that there was no fault of the casualty staff in handling the situation or the patients.

“The only fact that has come to the fore is that when the attendants were shifting the body to the Edhi morgue in the ambulance, while taking a turn, the body moved, causing blood to drip from the ear of the body. This caused all the confusion,” the member said.