MUZAFFARABAD: The doctors and allied technical staff at the Urology Department of Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) have suspended their consultation services in protest against the non-arrest of the persons involved in vandalization of precious equipment donated by the UK-based expatriate community.

The decision was announced by Dr Naeem Butt, Head of the Urology Department, at a press conference he addressed along with Dr Ammar Bashir, Dr Waqas Butt and some members of technical staff on Wednesday.

Dr Naeem said the urology ward had been raised from the donations of the UK-based Kashmiris to provide medical care to the rising number of renal patients in Muzaffarabad and its adjoining districts.

He said on the night of August 13, an elderly cancer patient died in the ward. Earlier, the patient had been refused admission by other health facilities owing to the last stage of his fatal disease. He further told that his health started deteriorating during the course of treatment and his attendants lost temper which culminated in vandalization of equipment, including a costly ultrasound machine, medical beds and other hardware at their hands, amid a torrent of abuse.

Doctors united against attendants damaging equipment

Video footage shared with media showed that while the destructive rampaging was going on, some police personnel as well as the hospital’s own security guards behaved as spectators.

Dr Naeem Butt said that the police finally arrested the main culprit, a resident of neighbouring Abbottabad district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but released him later on a personal bond so that he could attend his father’s funeral.

However, the accused did not surrender himself to the police on his own nor did the police themselves take any satisfactory action to bring him and others to book, he said.

“This lukewarm response has sent shockwaves among the entire medical fraternity forcing the Urology Department staff to suspend consultation services as a mark of protest,” he said, adding that they would not discontinue emergency services.

Dr Naeem Butt said if the attendants had any complaint vis-à-vis treatment they could have adopted a proper course rather than damaging the hospital property.

Moreover, he unfolded that the UK based donor community was also aghast at this lawlessness and had hinted to stop donations for the second phase of the project.

“This is not the loss of our hospital or its staff, but of all those people who could not afford to treat their patients in other towns and were being provided state of the art treatment at their doorsteps free of cost,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2023