A five-year-old girl died while being shifted from the Civil Hospital Shakargarh to the District Headquarters Hospital Narowal, triggering a protest by her family who termed the doctors of the civil hospital responsible for the death.

Maryam, the daughter of a trader, Malik Basharat Ali, a resident of Durman Road, Shakargarh, was coming back home from her tuition centre when she got injured as she bumped into a donkey cart.

Maryam was admitted to the Civil Hospital where the staff referred her to District Headquarters Hospital Narowal, instead of giving her first aid.

Basharat Ali said his daughter had got injury on the forehead as she collided with the donkey cart but she couldn’t get the first aid and died on the way to Narowal.

Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Riaz said the donkey cart had passed over the abdomen of the child and she had internal bleeding, that’s why she was referred to the DHQ Hospital.

“Dr Ihtisham treated the patient for about an hour but we have no equipment to treat such patients.” The MS added, “We feared that the relatives of the child will take the law into their hands so we referred her to the DHQ hospital and called the police”.

District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Latif Sahi said, “We are holding an inquiry into the matter and the responsibility will be fixed to take those responsible to the task”.

The relatives of the child and the locals demanded of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar take notice of the incident.