PESHAWAR, April 25: Relatives of a retired professor who died of coronary failure some months ago have demanded Rs100 million in compensation from a medical institute and accused its doctors of gross negligence.

“Mr Rasheed Ahmad was a heart patient and he died due to negligence of the administration of a medical institute,” alleged Advocate Arshad Saifoor Khan, who is also a relative of the deceased, at a press conference held here.

Mr Khan was accompanied by Mohammad Khalid and Mohammad Mustafa Khan, two other relatives of the victim.

The lawyer said the deceased had developed pain in the left arm and chest on January 14, 2006, and was taken to the medical institute.

Within 10 days, he said, a doctor at the institute performed coronary angioplasty on him and fitted 2 stents in LAD, but none in RCA.

“We paid Rs450,000 for the operation. Soon after his discharge from the hospital, he said, Mr Ahmad developed severe chest pain and was rushed to the institute again.

One doctor at the hospital told members of his family that he had suffered a heart attack and another advised them to take the patient to a doctor in Lady Reading Hospital.

The lawyer said that the institute’s administration had turned down a request by Mr Ahmed’s attendants for an ambulance to take the patient to LRH on the pretext that it could not cross Peshawar Cantt area.

“The patient was at last taken in a private car but he reached the hospital late owing to traffic chaos.

Doctors at the Lady Reading Hospital made several attempts to open the stent but in vain and Mr Ahmed died,” he added.