LAHORE: A cardiac patient died outside the emergency ward of the Mayo Hospital on Wednesday when young doctors protesting there allegedly denied him entry.

The incident took place shortly after a faction of the young doctors seeking restoration of a post-graduate trainee shut down the emergency ward. They turned violent when the institute’s administration made arrangements to reopen the outpatient department (OPD) by deputing senior medics.

“They are killers and not doctors,” tearful Ahmad standing near the body of his father Chaudhry Muhammad Sadiq told media outside the emergency ward.

Sadiq, 60, was rushed to the Mayo emergency ward at around 1pm when he complained of severe chest pain and difficulty in breathing.

Experts working on security zones in and around the hospital

“A group of youths wearing white coats asked us to take the patient to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology as doctors were on strike. We begged but they did not let us move in and my father breathed his last in the process. These criminals have murdered my father,” he alleged.

A senior doctor on duty at the emergency told Dawn that Sadiq was taken to the Coronary Care Unit and attempts were made to revive him, “but it was too late”.

Protesting activists of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) had stopped work at the emergency at around 11am following a clash with a deputy medical superintendent over reopening of the OPD.

After breaking open the locks of the OPD, the hospital administration had asked its consultants and senior doctors to start seeing patients there. A number of senior doctors were coming to the OPD when a group of YDA activists reached there and started relocking the rooms.

When Deputy Medical Superintendent (Security) Dr Tariq Ejaz challenged them, they ran off threatening him with dire consequences. Later, the YDA activists asked their colleagues at the emergency ward to stop working as the OPD had opened.

The Mayo administration swiftly deputed half a dozen senior doctors at the emergency but the YDA activists remained at the entrance, asking patients’ attendants to leave.

A doctor holding a senior administrative post said the YDA activists had been roaming the hospital in groups to ensure the OPD was not opened.

“Our OPD works in two shifts and we have been breaking open the locks put on by these black sheep in our ranks for the last four days. Today, a group of YDA activists manhandled technicians conducting tests on patients at the eye ward. Their attempts to damage the costly machine were foiled by some attendants of patients and staff members,” said the doctor.

Meanwhile, as a result of a meeting between Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education (SHME) Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah and Punjab Safe Cities Authority Chief Operating Officer Nasir Akbar Khan a few days back, experts from the Safe Cities Authority (SCA) visited the Mayo Hospital for a security audit.

A five-member team of experts evaluated the security requirements of the hospital. They started working on setting up security zones in and around the hospital.

An SHME spokesman said more CCTV cameras, electronic devices and digital video recorders would be installed within the hospital and on the incoming as well as exit roads.

Under the new security plan, a control room would also be set up in the hospital for which the SCA would impart training to the technical staff and help in procurement of electronic devices.

Published in Dawn November 10th, 2016