LAHORE, Nov 3: Justice Mian Najamuz Zaman of the Lahore High Court on Monday stopped police from arresting Dr Shafqat Chaudhry and other officials of Services Hospital booked on murder charges.

They were charged with negligence that caused the death of a patient, Ibrar Ahmad, of Abbotabad. The judge directed Additional Advocate General Akbar Tarar to produce on Friday the record of the case lodged against staff of the hospital. The judge was hearing a petition filed by Dr Ahmad, who is secretary-general of the Medical Teachers Association, seeking quashment of the murder case against the hospital staff.

The petitioner, through Aftab Bajwa advocate, said that the death of the patient occurred due to natural causes and the hospital staff was being victimised.

He said the deceased happened to hail from a village that was the hometown of Capt Safdar (retired) – the son-in-law of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif.

The judge inquired from the counsel if the death of the patient occurred due to the negligence of the staff, as the complainant claimed that the blood given to the deceased was not fit for transfusion.

The counsel said the blood for the deceased was provided by his family and after test from local lab it was found fit. Bajwa requested the court to quash the case. Shadman Police had on Oct 30 arrested orthopaedic surgeon Dr Wasim Shafqat after instituting a case against him along with Dr Saif, Dr Kashif, Dr Waqas and nurse Asma of the Services Hospital under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Complainant of the case, Nisar Ahmad, said his brother died because of doctors' negligence.