KARACHI: A teenage girl died during treatment by an alleged quack in the Malir area, police said on Saturday.

Malir City SHO Farasat Shah said that the 15-year-old girl, identified as Nusrat Wahid, complained of pain due to fasting, and her family took her to a local clinic in Chaman Colony, Lasi Goth for treatment.

He said that the man at the clinic had been practicing medicine in the Malir locality for the past 40 years, but “he is not a qualified doctor”.

The alleged quack administered an intravenous (IV) drip to her, triggering a reaction that worsened her condition and ultimately led to her death, the SHO said.

The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.

Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Dawn that a post-mortem examination was conducted on Saturday morning and all samples had been collected. The cause of death was reserved till receipts of the report, she added.

The police said that the quack doctor was not taken into custody.

The SHO said that he visited the house of the victim’s family and met with her relatives, who told him that they would lodge an FIR against the quack after her funeral.

Four suspects held after ‘encounters’

Four suspected robbers were arrested in wounded condition after alleged encounters in Mai Kolachi and Ahsanabad areas on Saturday.

The SITE-Superhighway police said that two muggers shot at and wounded a private security guard over resistance in Ahsanabad. As they were fleeing, a police patrol reached there and challenged them. The suspects opened fire and in an ensuing encounter the law enforcers shot the suspects and took them into custody.

The wounded guard and suspects were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment. The suspects were identified as Shan Karim and Zafar Mir.

In the second incident, the Docks police claimed to have arrested two robbers, later identified as Muhammad Iqbal and Murad Bux, after an encounter on Mai Kolachi Road.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2025