QUETTA: Doctors at Civil Hospital have closed the trauma centre in protest against mistreatment of duty doctors by some attendants of patients on Tuesday night.

Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Medical Superintendent of Civil Hospital Dr Saleem Abro urged the provincial government to increase security for the doctors.

“Last night, about 50 people brought three injured men to the trauma centre. The attendants misbehaved with the duty doctors and tried to stop them from performing their duty,” Dr Abro said.

“We have video clips showing the culprits misbehaving with the doctors. The armed men can easily be identified for legal action,” he said, adding that the deputy commissioner later sent additional personnel to control the situation.

Dr Abro said the inspector general of police had recently promised to provide security at the trauma centre, but that promise remained unfulfilled.

“Since the Civil Hospital blast, security issues are yet to be resolved by the provincial government,” said the medical superintendent.

“The patients not only from Quetta but also from Sindh and Afghanistan are being treated at the hospital. Hence, the doctors working here should be given respect.”

In reply to a question regarding mistreatment with a lady reporter of a news channel, Dr Abro said a summary had been sent to the health department in order to transfer the doctors involved in the incident.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2019