HYDERABAD: A mason died from profuse bleeding and alleged lack of attention in the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) on Monday.

The man, 35-year-old Ayub Qureshi, son of Mohammad Yunus, was a resident of Paretabad. He was brought to the LUH after a piece of iron passed through the right side of his upper body. Images of Ayub lying upside down on a stretcher in the operating theatre with the piece of iron visible on his back started circulating in the social media on Monday afternoon.

“He remained in the OT but no general surgeon attended him. No general surgeon from the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) was simply present at the LUH. Nobody attended the patient and he died in front of many people apparently due to profuse bleeding,” said a hospital employee. He said that no vital organ of the patient was damaged in the injury.

According to the MPA from the area, Nasir Qureshi, Ayub was busy in his masonry work in Paretabad when he fell off a wall and a piece of iron lying on ground passed through his body. Nobody tried to remove the iron, he said, adding that he (the MPA) approached the hospital’s medical superintendent but in vain. He added that a thoracic surgeon Dr Khalil Memon was supposed to examine the patient but he arrived late.

A hospital source said that no one from LUMHS was present in the OT. “All general surgeons were on call,” he said. He added that it was irony that surgeons remained on call and not available in the hospital.

LUH Medical Superintendent Dr Aijaz Abbasi could not be contacted for his comment despite several attempts.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2024