KARACHI, Nov 19: According to a report, in more than fifty per cent medico-legal cases, people with self-inflicted injuries get certificates by bribing medico-legal officers to implicate innocent people in false cases.

The report has been prepared by Dr Zubair Hasan, Abdul Rahman, Muhammad Khuram and Wahid Shah and is based on the findings of the Standing Medical Board (SMB).

The SMB reexamined 181 persons referred to it on suspicion of self-inflicted injuries at the District Headquarter Teaching Hospital Rawalpindi from September 1998 to September 2001. Of the 181 persons, 145 (80.1%) were male and 36 (19.9%) female.

The majority of them, ie, 70.7% , belonged to rural areas. The report says 101 persons, or 55.8 per cent (80 male and 21 female), were found with self-inflicted injuries.

54.4 per cent were found with injuries on their scalps. In 49.5 cases blunt objects were used for producing those injuries. Self-inflicted injuries could also be found on nasal bones.

The common motives behind the act are to take revenge on the enemy by implicating him in the charge of assault or murder attempt, to substantiate claim of encounter with a robber or thief and to show self-defence in response to violence by a party or a person.

The report carried by the journal of College of Physicians & Surgeons Pakistan in its latest issue recommends that people be advised not to hurt themselves and waste time and money as these injuries can easily be detected, first medico-legal examiners be properly trained and promptly punished if found involved in the practice.—PPI