HYDERABAD: Patients faced great hardship in getting medical care facilities at the Shah Bhitai Hospital, Latifabad, due to a strike observed by young doctors, paramedics and other staff on Tuesday over an incident a day earlier in which its outgoing medical superintendent, along with his companions, allegedly manhandled and harassed the administrative staff and ransacked their office.

The joint protest was led by the Young Doctors Association and the Paramedical Staff Union. They boycotted the hospital’s OPD and staged a rally on the hospital’s premises.

The protest affected the hospital’s working and caused trouble to patients coming from Hyderabad city and its outskirts for medical care.

Speaking to the protesters, YDA’s Dr Saleem Masood (president), Dr Rameez (general secretary), Dr Qadeer Mahar and Dr Fayaz Magsi; and Paramedical Staff Union’s Mubeen Qureshi condemned the incident and demanded action against those responsible for the ransacking. They said [the outgoing MS] Dr Iqbal Jagirani demonstrated an aggressive attitude which would not be tolerated.

They said security at the hospital should be beefed up.

Soon after the incident, the additional director general of health services, Sindh, had notified a three-member committee to look into the matter.

The committee was supposed to submit its report within 24 hours (Tuesday). headed by the director of health services, its other members the medical superintendent Sindh Govt Hospital, Qasimabad, and the assistant director (monitoring and evaluation), at the office of the DG Health Services.

It is pertinent to mention here that on Monday, Dr Jagirani, who was transferred as MS on May 12, came to the hospital to, according to him, hand over the charge to the newly posted MS, Dr Dilip Kumar.

Dr Jagirani said he had come on Monday because he could not make it two days back for the purpose. In the office of the administrative officer, Asif Abbasi, an altercation between Dr Jagirani and the administrative staff took place over some matter. According to the hospital administration, Dr Jagirani was accompanying some other people.

About a possible reason leading to the episode, the administration said that Dr Jagirani had approached the district accounts officer (DAO), even after having been transferred, to seek the release of pending funds for the hospital.

“As he was given a cold shoulder by the DAO, he came to the hospital and exchanged hot words with Mr Abbasi,” it added. Dr Jagirani claimed that the staff of the hospital misbehaved with him when he came to the hospital. He further claimed that he had been held hostage in the office.

The altercation turned into a brawl between the two sides during which MS Dr Kumar also arrived. The brawl ended up in a scuffle and the ransacking of fixture, furniture and equipment in Mr Abbasi’s office.

Dr Kumar claimed that Dr Jagirani also exchanged hot words with him. The administration alleged that Mr Abbasi was beaten up. The scene of the scuffle and rampage had gone viral on social media.

District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Lala Jaffar has already sent his report about the incident to the DG health services, Sindh.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2023