HYDERABAD: Doctors observed a boycott of outpatient duties at the Liaquat University Hospital on Friday in protest against an FIR registered on a court order after death of a dengue fever patient at the LUH on October 22.

Faculty of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro, also joined in the boycott.

The case was registered on the complaint of Amir Zardari, father of the deceased youth, Hasnain. Mr Zardari had obtained a judicial order for the FIR against a LUMHS professor, LUH medical superintendent and some other doctors holding them responsible for his son’s death.

The boycott was led by LUMHS Teachers Association President Prof Farzana Shaikh, Vice President Prof Mohammad Kashif Shaikh, Prof Ikram Bajwa and others.

According to Dr Kashif Shaikh, a cardiologist, doctors were now feeling insecure. He pointed out that young female doctors were also booked and they looked nervous and harassed.

He wondered that police had invoked Section 302 (murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) in the FIR instead of Section 322 PPC, and that too without first conducting an investigation into the matter.

He said doctors would move high court to seek quashment of the FIR.

He stated that all those connected with the case and had examined the deceased or provided any sort of medical care would record their statements before the inquiry committee formed by Sindh health department. He said the protest would continue.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2025