ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: An FIR was lodged against three family members of a National Assembly official on Monday, as doctors of the state-run hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi protested the attack on two of their colleagues at the Federal Government Services Hospital over the weekend.

Assistant Director of the FGSH Dr Masood Malik lodged a complaint with the Aabpara police stating that the accused attacked the hospital staff, injured them and intervened in the official matters.

The police registered a case against two sons and a daughter-in-law of the deputy secretary of National Assembly as well as their accomplices under sections 147, 149, 353 and 427 of the PPC.

The protesting doctors assembled in front of the Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH), Islamabad, to demand that the two sons, a daughter-in-law of a deputy secretary of the assembly and their accomplices should be prosecuted for assaulting and injuring Dr Riffat Pasha and Dr Ali.

They also called upon the government to provide protection to doctors against such high-handedness

Doctors of the FGSH and the Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, observed day-long strike to register their protest. Only the Emergency, ICU and CCU units in the two hospitals kept working during the strike. But the hundreds of in-patients were left unattended. About 5,000 patients visit each hospital daily to seek treatment.

Hundreds of doctors from the FGSH, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims); Holy Family Hospital, District Headquarters Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi gathered in front of the FGSH to stage a protest against the assault on Dr Riffat Pasha and Dr Ali.

The protestors demanded registration of a criminal case against the accused for attacking and injuring the doctors. They also called upon the government to take action against the accused in accordance with the law and provide security to doctors to avoid such incidents in the future.

“This is not the first time that doctors have been mistreated but such incidents do occur and are often overlooked by hospital administration,” said a doctor from BBHR.

“However, the intensity of the latest incident could not be ignored, because a female doctor was beaten up which is a very inhuman act,” said another doctor. The protestors dispersed from the scene in the afternoon after they were provided with the copy of the FIR (first information report) registered against the accused.

Earlier, the hospital administration was reluctant to lodge a complaint against the accused and reportedly pressured its doctors to settle the issue. In this regard, negotiations between the hospital staff and the accused took place soon after the incident from 5pm to midnight on Saturday.

The deputy security agreed to tender a written apology to the doctors which was accepted by Dr Ali. However, Dr Riffat Pasha, the daughter of a grade-21 officer, sought 24 hours’ time to think and make a decision.

Later, some senior officials of the hospital asked the administration to lodge a complaint against the accused on behalf of the hospital. They were of the view that it was not a problem of a single individual, because if not punished anyone can victimise the hospital staff in future.