GUJRAT: The Punjab government on Thursday appointed Gujrat District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Ayaz Nasir as the medical superintendent of the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH), following the suspension of its MS Dr Asif Mahmood in the wake of the roof collapse incident at the facility on Wednesday.

The government has also suspended three senior officials of the buildings department, including the executive engineer Abdul Rauf, sub divisional officer (SDO) Fawad Meuneer and a sub-engineer Sartaash Ahmed, in the light of an initial inquiry into the incident, in which a 60-year-old woman patient had died and at least a dozen others were injured.

The provincial government’s project of revamping the ABSTH had been underway for the last few months and the contractor had removed the pillars supporting the roofs to fix the windows, resulting in bending of the concrete slabs of the roofs of ground and first floors.

The Punjab health minister Khawaja Salman Rafique and communication and works minister Sohaib Bharth, along with the provincial secretaries concerned, had visited the hospital, inspecting the site of the incident.

However, sources in the local buildings department say that the SDO, who was in charge of the project execution, had written at least two letters, between December 2023 and March 2024, to the MS of the hospital, warning him of the possible damage to the building’s structure due to the weight of concrete blocks placed on the rooftop for the installation of solar panels.

However, the sources say, these letters had never been responded by the hospital administration.

Sources in the local administration told Dawn a detailed inquiry would be launched soon into the matter to fix responsibility for the incident.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2024