SAHIWAL: Relatives of a deceased ransacked the District Headquarters Hospital’s emergency ward and forcibly closed it down on the night between Wednesday and Thursday.

The mob went beside itself in anger over alleged negligence of Dr Shahid which led to the death of first-year student Abdur Rehman.

Abdur Rehman, who was a first-year student of the Divisional Public School, had been suffering from respiratory problem for the last many years. As his condition worsened on Wednesday night, the family brought him to the DHQ hospital emergency, where the duty doctor treated him and pronounced him dead after two hours.

Initially, his dear ones took the body home where some mourners felt the boy was alive as “he had lifted his hand and blinked his eyes.” Several people took the youngster again to the hospital, where Dr Shahid insisted that he was no more.

His parents got infuriated and abused the doctor. Many neighbours and relatives also gathered at the health facility and, prompted by the youngster’s father’s claim that the doctors denied him oxygen, broke the windows of the ward and locked it for two hours.

Farid Town SHO Tahir Ijaz led a police team to the protest site and placated the protesters and assured them that an inquiry would be conducted to determine the cause of death.

Medical Superintendent Dr Rehmat Ali suspended the doctor from service after which the mob dispersed. The protesters later protested in front of the DPO office and demanded registration of a murder case against the doctor and emergency staff of the hospital.

The DPO pledged registration of a case if an inquiry ordered by the DCO proved the officials guilty.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2014