RAWALPINDI, May 15: The family of a patient who died due to alleged negligence of doctors at Holy Family Hospital (HFH) three days back threatened on Sunday that they will commit suicide in front of the hospital if legal action was not taken against the medical staff.

However, two brothers of the deceased were arrested by the police late Sunday on the complaints of the doctors.

Earlier speaking at a press conference; the widow, the son and a brother of the deceased urged the provincial government and Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to take notice of the doctors’ negligence.

Naseem Abbasi died in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the HFH on Friday night sparking a brawl between his relatives and the doctors which left five doctors injured and the ICU machinery damaged.

Naeem Abbasi, one of the brothers of the deceased, said the doctors misbehaved with the family and later refused to hand over his brother’s body. “The doctors handed over the body of my brother five hours after his death as they wanted to teach us a lesson,” he alleged.

He said they brought Naseem to HFH when he felt pain in his left arm but doctors at the emergency department paid no attention to him. He alleged that Dr Khurram and Dr Farooqi asked the family to take the patient home.

Upon this, he said, Naseem’s son and the doctors exchanged hot words. However, the hospital management intervened and admitted the patient. He said in the meantime, other doctors arrived and thrashed the family members for allegedly misbehaving with their colleagues.

He alleged that when Naseem was shifted to ICU, a nurse put on an oxygen mask but Dr Khurram arrived there and pulled it off, saying the family had misbehaved with doctors. The doctor allegedly asked the family to take the patient away as there was no vacant bed in the ICU.

During the whole episode, Mr Naeem said, his brother died. “After that, all the doctors gathered at one place and refused to hand over the body. They asked us to give a statement that nothing had happened in the hospital.”

Earlier, the family and neighbourers of the deceased staged a protest demonstration at Siddiqui Chowk and blocked the road for an hour. They were chanting slogans against the doctors and asking the government to take action against them for negligence.

Later in the night, the police arrested two brothers of the deceased. “The police arrested Naeem Abbasi and Abid Abbasi as they were nominated in an FIR lodged by doctors,” said Commissioner Rawalpindi Zahid Saeed while talking to Dawn.

He said the local administration was taking steps to cool down both the parties. He said the administration was also trying to convince the doctors to call off their strike.