NAROWAL: Family of a 21-year-old girl, who died at the district headquarters hospital on March 17, has accused the doctors of negligence in provision of treatment.

Muhammad Akram, a resident of Farooq Ganj, took his daughter Ayesha Akram to the emergency ward of the DHQ hospital on Wednesday (March 16) at 3:30am. He alleged that the duty doctor kept playing games on the mobile phone and did not examine the patient.

He said his daughter was suffering from short breath and paramedics administered an injection to her and discharged her. He said the next day he again visited the hospital and his daughter was admitted to the emergency ward. He said he brought some of the medicines from the market due to non-availability in the hospital.

Akram [labourer] quoted the doctor as saying that Ayesha needed to be put on ventilator immediately which is not available at the hospital. He said the doctors asked him to take the patient to some private hospital in Narowal or Lahore.

He said he borrowed some money from his relatives and came back to hospital and found his daughter dead. He said the death certificate mentioned heart failure as the cause of death.

DHQ Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Latif Afzal rejected the allegation of shortage of medicines and said the hospital has four ventilators which are functional.

District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Khalid Javed said the hospital had all the facilities including ventilators.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2022