GUJRAT: The condition of a 17-year-old student who was critically injured during the recent protest against the Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) as police chased the protesters on the GT Road reportedly got stable and ventilator support was removed from him after 72 hours.

Dr Ayaz Nasir, the medical superintendent of the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH), confirmed to Dawn that Asadullah was getting stable and ventilator removal indicated that the neurosurgeon had conducted a successful surgery.

He said Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had sent a team of senior neurosurgeons from Lahore on Friday and they had thoroughly examined Asad. On the senior neurosurgeons’ recommendation, he was shifted to the Institute of Neurosurgery in Lahore on a ventilator.

Mr Nasir said on Saturday the condition of the patient improved so much that he had been removed from the ventilator for the first time after being operated upon at the ABSTH on Tuesday.

Asad had suffered a fatal head injury after his motorbike struck a median on the GT Road. He was being chased by police. The police van was chasing the fleeing students after the first violent protest at the Gurali campus of the Punjab College on Tuesday by student groups against the alleged rape of a girl in Lahore.

Taking notice of the incident, the Punjab CM had issued instructions for registering a case against the police officials chasing the motorcyclist students. The case was lodged against the station house officer (SHO) and other policemen of the Lorry Adda Police Station.

It is learnt that the CM also spoke to the parents of Asad twice over the telephone and sent Gujranwala Commissioner Naveed Haider Sheerazi to hospital to inquire after him.

Senior PTI leader Parvez Elahi had also sent his cousin Sameera Elahi to the ABSTB to inquire after Asad and assured his family of all support.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2024