A medical officer at the Shaikh Zayed Medical College and Hospital (SZMC&H) in Rahim Yar Khan was on Monday suspended on the charges of assaulting a staff nurse, officials said.

The action against Dr Khurram Shamsher Mughal, a leader of the Young Doctors Association (YDA), was taken after a complaint was filed against him by a charge nurse.

The nurse, who is deployed at the neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU), filed an application to the hospital's nursing superintendent on October 12, stating that when she was on duty on the night of Oct 9 in the ICU, medical officer Dr Mughal tried to take her into his room.

She resisted his move, and when he forced her, she called her colleague, another staff nurse, and saved herself from being sexually assaulted, the application said.

A majority of staff nurses at the hospital protested outside the principal's office to condemn this act of the doctor.

SZMC&H spokesperson Professor Dr Burhan Mustafa told Dawn that the services of Dr Mughal, who was serving as the medical officer of the anaesthesia department on contract basis, have been placed under suspension with immediate effect.

According to a letter issued by the hospital's medical superintendent on Monday, the statement of allegations against the doctor will be served separately.

An office order also issued by the superintendent said, "[This] matter is of [a] serious nature and is required to be inquired."

The hospital's administration has formed a five-member inquiry committee to probe into the matter and submit its inquiry report to the principal within two days.

The convener of the committee is Dr Masood ul Haq, head of the pulmonology department, and will include Dr Shoaib Anwar, Associate Professor neurosurgical department; Dr Gul Iftikhar ul Hassan, additional principal medical officer (APMO); Dr Shazia Parveen, deputy medical superintendent; and Mrs Asmat Batool, the nursing superintendent.

Second incident in one month

This the second reported incident of assault against female medical officials at SZMC&H in less than a month.

In September, a sweeper had allegedly tried to rape a female medical officer in the emergency ward of SZMC&H. The principal, however, denied the occurrence of any incident of a rape attempt.

The incident led to the Punjab government suspending the principal and medical superintendent of the hospital for showing "inefficiency" regarding the matter.

Notably, the YDA — of which the accused in the latest incident is a leader — had after the first incident protested in many hospitals of the province and demanded legislation in the Punjab Assembly for the protection of doctors, nurses and other paramedics. The doctors had suspended their work in the outpatient departments (OPDs).

YDA activists had even forced the closure of OPDs of five teaching hospitals in Lahore to protest against the incident of alleged harassment of the woman medical officer.