LAHORE, Feb 1: Seven injured passengers, three of them critical, were abandoned by the railway authorities in the Shaikh Zayed Hospital on Tuesday..
The passengers injured in Lahore non-stop accident near Domeli on Jan 29 were brought to the Shaikh Zayed Hospital in three ambulances from the Jhelum CMH on Tuesday noon. Carin Hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr Syed Javed Zaidi, PR protocol officer Shabbir Ahmad and other senior officers from the railway headquarters were present at the SZH casualty ward.
Before leaving, the PR officials told the injured and their attendants that the railways would bear all expenses on treatment.
Later, the patients learnt no arrangements had been made by the railways for their free treatment at the hospital.
When contacted, Carin Hospital MS Dr Zaidi said he was neither responsible for the derailment nor for free treatment of any one.
The matter was brought to the knowledge of PR General Manager (Operations) Saleemur Rahman Akhoond on Tuesday night who promised to look into the matter.
No railway official had contacted any of the injured passengers and their attendants till late on Wednesday night when four of them, including the wife of Justice Muhammad Fayyaz of the Supreme Court and journalist Mahmood Zaman, were discharged from the SZ hospital.
The condition of Mrs Waheeda Mahmood, Saeed Sadaat and Mrs Farah were stated to be serious in the hospital.
Meanwhile, the officials of the PR commercial wing remained busy collecting data for lists being finalized for payment of compensation to victims of Jan 29 derailment.
A foolproof system had been devised to ensure that only the legal heirs of the deceased or injured in the Domeli accident could get compensation, they said.
“We are facing difficulties as around 30 per cent of the injured passengers have left without giving their complete addresses,” they said.
They advised claimants to produce all relevant documents, especially medical certificates issued by the medical officer of the Jhelum and Mangla CMHs or the Dina Civil Hospital along with the attested copies of their computerized ID cards to DS offices in Lahore or Rawalpindi.