ISLAMABAD: Four doctors of a private hospital were booked by Kohsar police on charges of unintentional murder, sources told Dawn on Monday.

Initially, the police had refused to register the case, but the complainant approached the district and session court Islamabad, which ordered registration of the case.

In his complaint, Hafiz Ahmed had sought legal action against a surgeon and a private hospital after his wife died due to alleged ‘medical negligence’ after undergoing a gastrectomy to reduce obesity.

In his complaint, Hafiz Ahmed stated that he took his 32-year-old wife to a surgeon at a private hospital in F-8 on October 8, 2015, to have an operation.

The surgeon advised for a sleeve gastrectomy, a weight-loss procedure in which the size of the stomach is reduced by removing a portion of it. The surgeon told him that he was a specialist in the field and had so far conducted 50 such operations.

He said the surgeon asked him to get the patient admitted to a private hospital in Blue Area on October 10, 2015. Mr Ahmed said he deposited Rs284,470 at the hospital besides paying thousands of rupees for medicines and laboratory tests.

The patient underwent the surgery at the hospital which was performed by the surgeon and three other doctors who were also nominated in the FIR. After three days, she was discharged from the hospital despite the fact that she had a high fever, severe pain and was unable to walk.

After reaching home, the condition of the patient deteriorated. When Mr Ahmed contacted the surgeon, he assured him that the patient would stabilise soon. But shortly afterwards, she started coughing severely.

“My wife also got treatment for cough for a week but her condition remained unchanged,” Mr Ahmed stated. Later, a laboratory test was conducted which showed that her surgery wounds had not healed and secretion was discharging from them and entering the lungs.

“In light of the report, another operation of his wife was conducted by the surgeon,” the FIR stated, adding but the condition of his wife remained unchanged.

When the condition of the patient did not improve, the surgeon advised Mr Ahmed to take her to a government hospital and also gave him the reference of a doctor.

“When I took her to the government hospital and met the doctor, he refused to see her.” After this, the surgeon could not be contacted again so he took the patient to another private hospital at F-10.

The doctors at the hospital blamed the operation for her falling health and said: “We are not hopeful of her health.”

Later she died in the hospital on November 28, 2015, the FIR stated.

Investigating officer SI Mohammad Ishaq when contacted said that the case was just registered, and was reluctant to talk anymore on the issue.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016