September 28, 2008	Sunday	Ramazan 27, 1429

RAWALPINDI, Sept 27: A civil judge here on Saturday issued arrest warrant of a doctor at the Benazir Bhutto Shaeed Hospital for not appearing in the court in a damage suit filed by a citizen after his wife’s leg was amputated at the hospital.

Civil Judge Atta Rabbani issued the arrest warrant of Dr Saleem, an orthopedic surgeon, after he did not turn up in the court despite repeated summons in the case filed by Imdad Hussain Shah.

In his suit, Shah maintained that he took his wife Zohra Konain to the hospital after she got one of her legs fractured. But her leg was wrongly amputated due to the negligence of the surgeon, he added.

Negligence case: Additional District and Sessions Judge Khalid Mehmood Ranjha has sought comments of the SHO Cantonment on alleged medical negligence of the Cantonment General Hospital staff and directed him to appear in the court on October 6.

Mohammad Arshad in his petition told the court that his wife Razia Arshad died at the hospital due to the alleged negligence of the duty doctor and the paramedical staff on September 2. He urged the court to order registration of an FIR against the accused.

Batish Mehmood Tipu Advocate is representing the petitioner.

According to the petitioner, Razia was admitted to the gynaecology and obstetrics ward of the hospital on August 30. The doctors observed that a caesarean section needed to be performed on Razia to deliver her baby. The rationale of the surgery was, however, not very clear since prior to this all tests and antenatal check-ups were normal. The woman was administered anaesthesia after which she underwent surgery on August 31 and a baby boy was delivered.

After the operation, Razia regained consciousness and she and her newborn baby were shifted to the obstetrics ward, where her condition improved and she even started walking with the help of attendants. However, on September 2 at about 2am, Razia’s condition started to deteriorate. She kept on screaming due to pain in her abdomen and started vomiting. Her attendant requested the paramedical staff, who were sleeping in the duty room, to call the duty doctor as well as the other medical staff but they remained unmoved. They allegedly did not give any treatment to her and took the matter casually. After a lot of requests by the attendant of the patient, a nurse turned up at about 4am and administered a pain killer injection to her. However, Razia’s condition did not improve.

Arshad reached the hospital at 6am despite being handicapped. Due to his hectic efforts the duty doctor examined the patient at 7:30am but by then it was two late as the blood pressure of the patient had dropped and she had no pulse. She was put on oxygen and was sent for ultrasound at 11am. The doctor came with a delay of half an hour and after the ultrasound the patient was shifted to ICU where she died after 15 minutes.

Arshad alleged that throughout their stay in the hospital, the response of the hospital authorities, the doctor and paramedical staff was callous, inhumane and unprofessional. He alleged that the death of his wife was a direct consequence of the incompetence, gross negligence, medical malpractice and extreme carelessness of the duty doctor and paramedical staff.He said he had already submitted an application to the SHO of the Cantonment for registration of an FIR. However, the application was forwarded to the DSP for legal opinion who asked the SHO to complete the inquiry and submit a report. But so far no report has been submitted to the DSP legal. Arshad said he along with all the witnesses had appeared before the SHO and got their statements recorded.

Boy’s killing case: ATC-I Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman put off hearing of a criminal complaint against a superintendent of Islamabad police for allegedly killing a 10-year-old boy in a police `encounter’ till September 30 after the complainant could not bring his witnesses to the court.

Complainant Gulistan Ali’s counsel asked for the adjournment after they could not produce the witnesses supporting their claim that Zeeshan Ali was killed by SP Islamabad (West) Nasir Aftab and some officials of the Sabzi Mandi police on September 13.

In his complaint under section 200 of CrPC, Gulistan, a resident of CDA Colony in Islamabad, said his son was standing beside his motorcycle outside a photo shop in the market on Khayaban-i-Sir Syed while he was inside the shop when he saw an Islamabad police party led by the SP firing shots straight at his son who received two bullets and died on the spot.

He alleged that the SP had fired two shots from the gun of his guard while his gunman fired four to five shots with an AK-47 rifle that resulted in the death of his son witnessed by a large number of people. He said after the incident the SP came to him and said sorry. “The SP asked me to take away the body and disappeared.”

The complainant alleged that when he brought the body to Holy Family Hospital, a senior official of Sabzi Mandi police took it away and directed him to take the body from the office of the deputy commissioner. He said when he went to the district courts to collect the body of his son, an additional deputy commissioner threatened him with dire consequences and said enmity with the police was always fatal. He advised him not to register a case against the policemen.

He further alleged that he and his family had since September 13 been harassed by senior officers of Islamabad police and was not allowed to visit any police station to get a murder case registered. The father of the deceased boy also said he was being pressured by an area nazim and an ex-councillor to enter into a compromise with the accused policemen.

He sought legal action against the SP and other policemen for killing his son, adding bogus reports were being prepared by the police that the boy was killed in an encounter with car lifters despite the fact the capital police had unlawfully entered into the limits of Rawalpindi police and committed the crime.