ISLAMABAD, July 27: Judge Mohammad Iqbal Ranjha of Civil Court, Rawalpindi, on Tuesday dismissed the plea of Dr Ghazala, a gynaecologist allegedly involved in a medical negligence case, to cross-examine the witnesses by re-summoning them.

The court was hearing a Rs50 million damages suit filed against Dr Ghazala of the Cantonment General Hospital (CGH) in line with the directions of the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court to decide the matter within six months.

Batish Mahmood Tipu advocate, representing the petitioner Riaz Bibi during the hearing, opposed the maintainability of the two applications of Dr Ghazala, stating that she had no right to re-summon the witnesses for cross-examination.

The court, while accepting the plea, dismissed the applications, but directed Dr Aneela of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) to appear before the court on October 6 to attest the operation notes.

The court decided to summon Dr Aneela on the application of the petitioner. Dr Aneela had assisted Dr Saeeda Batool in conducting "exploratory laprotomy" of the petitioner and had taken operation notes.

The death of Riaz Bibi, mother of five, was stated to be a result of negligence after a CGH lady surgeon allegedly left a "sponge" in her abdomen while conducting a caesarean operation in June 2001. The hospital allegedly discharged the patient after the sponge-created gangrene spread all over her body.

The patient was later taken to the Rawalpindi General Hospital and then to a private hospital, which referred her to Pims where her exploratory laprotomy was done. However, after remaining in coma for a few weeks, the patient died. Later, the family members of Riaz Bibi filed a damages suit against the CGH lady doctor and the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board before the civil court, Rawalpindi.