LAHORE: Tension escalated at the Fatima Jinnah Medical University (FJMU) and the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here on Tuesday when hundreds of lady doctors and medical students took to the streets to condemn the rape attempt on a minor girl on the hospital’s premises here on Tuesday.

The medics came to the support of the five-year-old victim for the ‘delayed’ response by the institute’s management, calling Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to take notice of the incident for exemplary punishment to the attacker.

The doctors and students were carrying banners inscribed with the slogans ‘stop raping girls’ and ‘punish the rapists’.

The situation got tense when the lady doctors and students gathered in the auditorium of the university to lodge a peaceful protest for delaying action against the employee of the company providing janitorial services and the institute’s management reportedly locked them for some time.

The doctors and the students turned aggressive and called other fellows who unlocked the auditorium.

Talking to the media, the protesters said the incident occurred two days back when the minor girl came along with her mother who had delivered a baby.

The woman was waiting in the Mother & Child Hospital for her turn for follow-up treatment.

The doctors said an employee of the company took the girl to a room where he made a rape attempt. As soon as her mother heard her cries, she rushed to the room and rescued her daughter, the lady doctors said.

They added the institute’s management first tried to hush up the incident and then delayed criminal action against the suspect, forcing the doctors and the students to support the girl and her mother.

The doctors and students then came out of the institute, blocked the road and registered their protest, demanding immediate action against the suspect. They demanded installation of security cameras in the institute.

Meanwhile, the Young Doctors Association Punjab also joined the protesters.

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Medical Superintendent Prof Dr Moeenuddin told Dawn that the institute intervened timely and lodged a complaint with the police against the suspect.

He said the company has terminated the services of the employee on the recommendations of the teaching hospital’s management.

The MS rejected the allegations of delayed response saying that the woman was reluctant to register a criminal case against the attacker giving an excuse that she was unable to pursue the matter.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2024