KARACHI, Feb 9: Hospital record in respect of a plaintiff's surgical treatment has been attached in a 35-million-rupee medical malpractice suit for damages, the Sindh High Court was informed on Monday.
The suit has been instituted by Chand Khan, a homoeopathic doctor, against the Aga Khan University Hospital, its surgeon concerned and an insurance company through Advocate Nasir Maqsood.
The attachment of the record was ordered by Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany on January 29 when the lawyer complained that the hospital was not prepared to part with the record.
The SHC nazir was asked to take possession of the record and keep it in his safe custody pending the hearing of the plaintiff's claim. The plaintiff alleged that he was operated upon for the removal of his gall bladder on September 25, 1997, and was assured by consultant surgeon Dr Inam Pal that the operation was successful.
However, he continued to suffer from stomach pain even after the treatment and subsequent tests established that the gall bladder was never removed.
Advocate Nasir Maqsood also filed an affidavit on behalf of the plaintiff that he requested the hospital authorities for supply of the relevant documents but there was no response to his repeated requests. He cited a recent case wherein the high court had ordered attachment of a hospital record in similar circumstances.
Allowing the plea, Justice Osmany observed: "I have heard the counsel and have gone through the file. I see that the plaintiff has on a few occasions asked the defendant hospital to let him have the medical record but such requests have gone unheeded. The documents annexed also establish, prima facie, that the plaintiff is still suffering from an enlarged gall bladder despite his surgical treatment."
The nazir, Mueenuddin Ahmad, said in his report on Monday that the main body of the record had been attached but the log book of the operation theatre concerned would be submitted by the defendant hospital through its counsel. He noted the plaintiff's objection that the test lab report, record of the day (September 24, 1997) preceding his operation, and details of the anaesthesia, surgical procedures and record of CDs was missing from the attached file.
ASIF'S PLEA: The Sindh High Court adjourned on Monday PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari's plea for quashment of the charge against him in the Murtaza Bhutto murder case.
State counsel Abdul Jalil Zubedi informed Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro, who is seized of the quashment petition, that Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan had the charge of the brief but was busy before another bench and had requested adjournment. Granting the request, the court fixed the matter for Feb 23 with the consent of the petitioner's counsel, Barrister Azizullah Shaikh.
Murtaza Bhutto, chairman of the PPP (Shaheed Bhutto), was assassinated near the Bhutto family's Clifton residence on September 20, 1996. Seven others, including Ashiq Hussain Jatoi, were also killed in the police firing.
An FIR against Mr Zardari, premier Benazir Bhutto's husband and a member of her cabinet, the then Sindh chief minister, Syed Abdullah Shah, and a number of police officers was registered on November 9, 1996.
RETRIAL: Justice Shabbir Ahmed of the High Court of Sindh, also the administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) for Karachi division, on Saturday entrusted retrial of a Rangers official's murder case to ATC-V, headed by judge Haq Nawaz Baloch, adds APP. The case was earlier heard and decided by ATC III.