LAHORE: It was terrifying three to four hours on Wednesday (Dec 11) that Muhammad Liaquat spent in the hospital. Surrounded only by patients in the emergency ward, since doctors had run to hide from charging lawyers, Liaquat says the scene seemed like something out of a horror film.

“My uncle was being treated for heart issues,” he says.

“He had become quite stable but as the attack took place, and panic arose, he began to feel unwell again.”

Nurses tried to help but Muhammad Boota suffered a heart attack and died.

Three days later on Friday, the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), was still closed. The doors of the wards, as well as the Collection Centre are padlocked.

The public is now getting irked at the hospital administration. They want treatment and cannot afford to wander around the city looking for it.

Inside the hospital, silence reigns, and with Rangers deployed, everything is being monitored and few are allowed inside. On the road, anti-riot police stands in full gear, wearing helmets and holding shields and batons.

Eyewitnesses: “What were the police doing when they (lawyers) gate crashed?” asks a man who works near the hospital. “I saw baton-wielding lawyers entering the premises.”

Many did not want to speak on the matter, or said they had not seen the whole scene unfold in detail.

A guard at the Services Hospital adjacent to the PIC said that the he had been inside the building at his place, and all he saw was a swarm of lawyers sailing by in their black coats.

“I was at my post, when they came, and I thought it was just a protest. But their body language was quite aggressive when I saw them pass.”

Standing nearby, a woman comments, “I was bringing my relative to Services Hospital and on the way I saw the crowd of lawyers storm the PIC gates. Are these the custodians of law or are they terrorists?”

A cop overhears her and comments wryly, “You wait and see; they will all be acquitted.”

PUBLIC IRKED: Several out-patients could not receive treatment on Wednesday.

Since PIC specializes in cardiology, it was more difficult for them to find another treatment centre.

“We are asked to go to another hospital. We have come from so far away to find this out. Is there any kind of ambulance service that the hospital has provided to us to go to another hospital?” cries an irate man.

“I am suffering from a heart problem and I urge the hospital staff to help me out,” says an old man.

“I have come from out of city and now I don’t know what to do.” He has not been allowed to enter and stands outside the bitter cold, shivering. But an old woman says that though they are not being treated they can go inside to get medicines and shows a slip of prescription and an ampoule.

Doctors held a small walk earlier in the day, carrying a banner which declared the day of the attack, “Black Wednesday”.

Doctors from the Grand Alliance declared they would not treat any of the nominated lawyers and even if the government pressurizes them, they will close hospitals.

After the attack, many people here for angioplasty and surgeries had to leave.

But they were given medication which they could take and then leave. CEO of the PIC Dr Saquib Shafi estimates the loss at Rs70 million.

PMA President Dr Ashraf Nizami told Dawn some miscreants wanted to create problems, and they should be dealt with accordingly.

“We urge the government to stop this system of “entitled queues” so that there is no issue of anyone demanding to be served first.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2019