However, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, who at present is also the acting president, has condemned the attack and called for an inquiry to establish the facts.
The NA deputy secretary’s daughter-in-law has alleged that the hospital staff detained her and some other persons, and also took away valuables – gold ring, Rs40,000 in cash and a cellphone – which fell during the scuffle, the sources said.
On these accusations, she sought registration of a criminal case against the doctors and hospital staff.
The sources said the complainant’s claim was “technically true”, as she along with six other persons was handed over to the police after six hours of the incident. However, during the time the two sides were engaged in negotiations to settle the issue.
There is a possibility that the complaints would be added to the FIR already registered by the police against the NA deputy secretary’s family members for attacking the doctors. The FIR was registered on the complaint of the FGSH assistant executive director on Monday.
Meanwhile, the protest of the hospital’s medical staff entered the third day on Wednesday, and they again observed a two-hour token strike and staged a sit-in outside the Aabpara police station and the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club (RIPC) camp office against the delay in the arrest of the accused.
Patients were again hit hard by the strike, as hundreds of people visiting the hospital’s over 30 outpatient departments faced inconvenience during the strike held from 10am to 12 noon.
About 400 doctors and paramedical staff of the FGSH, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Capital Development Authority (CDA) Hospital, Holy Family Hospital, District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital assembled at the FGSH, popularly known as Polyclinic.
A member of the doctors’ action committee said the medical practitioners would decide whether they would to go on a complete strike and stage a sit-in at D-Chowk near the Parliament building during a meeting to be held on Thursday at 9am. Doctors of Pims and CDA Hospital have been requested to attend the meeting.
All the state-run hospitals in the capital will go on strike if the doctors agreed on the agenda, he said.
On the other hand, NA Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, said an inquiry would be launched to investigate the incident, adding that strict action would be taken if any National Assembly’s employee was found involved in the incident.
Dr Mirza put forward the assurance during a visit to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi on Wednesday.
At the hospital, she said public-private partnership was the most plausible solution to addressing the health problems of the people.
According to her, the government was doing “the maximum” in the health sector, but these efforts are needed to be supplemented by the private sector and well-off people in the society.
High security was observed during the visit of the NA speaker to the hospital, where all gates were closed an hour before Dr Mirza reached the medical facility. No one was allowed to enter the premises without being screened using walk-through metal scanners.
According to a press release issued later in the day, the speaker said every year thousands of children and women died of different diseases because of either ignorance or shortage of health facilities. Educating people about health and provision of medical facilities at the grass-roots level was the top priority of the government, she said.
The acting president also visited the emergency ward and the operation theatre in the hospital where former prime minister Benazir Bhutto breathed her last on December 27.