ISLAMABAD: A team of doctors of a private hospital were booked on the charge of manslaughter after a patient died in the operation theatre, police said on Friday.

A case was registered against the doctors of a hospital in Karachi Company in response to a complaint lodged by the brother-in-law of the deceased.

According to the FIR, Mohammad Sajid, 54, was admitted to the hospital on July 11 after he suffered a fracture and dislocated his lower right leg due to an accident on July 6. An amount of Rs250,000 was deposited for the operation and necessary tests were conducted.

The next day on July 12, Sajid was taken to the operation theatre for surgery, the FIR said, adding that after sometime the doctors informed the deceased’s son, Hamza, that his father had suffered cardiac arrest but did not tell him about his death.

Hamza asked the doctor to shift him to another hospital as they did not have the facility to deal with emergency cases, but the doctors gave him hope and said he was out of danger, the FIR said.

Later the doctors’ team left the hospital but the other staff kept giving hope to the family, the FIR said. The body was later handed over to the family in the evening.

The family approached Safe City Islamabad, Rescue 15 and police and informed them about the incident.

According to the FIR, the patient died due to the criminal negligence of the doctors who gave the deceased an overdose of anesthesia and used expired medicine.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2023